Posted on 10/06/2003 1:28:45 PM PDT by shaggy eel
The [New Zealand] government has given the clearest indication yet that smacking children will be against the law in two years.
Facing stinging international criticism of New Zealand's stance on corporal punishment, Social Development Minister Steve Maharey said the law which permits "reasonable force" by adults against their children would be gone in two years.
New Zealand has consistently been criticised by the United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child for not repealing Section 59 of the Crimes Act. This section lets adults use reasonable force as a defence against child assault, but is not available as a defence against adults hitting adults.
Again this week, the UN committee expressed its "deep concern" that New Zealand had yet to ban all forms of corporal punishment. That followed Prime Minister Helen Clark's recent public backing for a repeal of Section 59.
But recent opinion polls suggest that more than 70 per cent of adults still believe it is okay to smack children and Mr Maharey has said New Zealand is not yet ready for the law to be changed.
Instead, the Government has provided $10 million for a two-year anti-smacking public education campaign.
Mr Maharey said the Cabinet had agreed to revisit Section 59 before the campaign's end, by which time he believed both the public and Parliament would be ready to amend the law.
In an effort to affect public perception before then, Government ministers have begun changing the way they talk about the repeal of Section 59, insisting that it is not a smacking ban.
They say parents would not be criminalised for disciplining their children, but that adults would no longer be able to escape conviction on charges of child assault by pleading reasonable force.
Meanwhile, New Zealand First MP Brian Donnelly has written a private member's bill that bans hitting a child around the head or using implements to punish them.
And the Greens have drafted a new bill repealing Section 59 altogether, saying that allowing children to be smacked added to the culture of abuse in New Zealand.
Both member's bills would need to be drawn from a ballot held every second Wednesday before they could be debated.
ACT has also lashed out at the UN for espousing idealism "that is unrealistic in our world".
"If the UN wants to tell us what to do, then it should at least come to New Zealand and see things first-hand," Social Welfare spokeswoman Muriel Newman said.
ACT New Zealand Social Welfare Spokesman Dr Muriel Newman today urged the Government not to use a recent UN report as a stepladder back onto its anti-smacking platform, in light of reports that smacking children may be illegal within two years.
"This report, from an out of touch UN committee, advocates banning smacking - a move that could prove problematic for New Zealand society," Dr Newman said.
"Banning smacking will not solve our child abuse problem. Child abuse is already illegal, but that does not stop the abusers. Banning smacking will simply make law-abiding parents too afraid to discipline their children. The abusers, meanwhile, will continue to ignore the law.
"The reality is that a law banning smacking will be unenforceable. It could result in decent parents being labelled abusers, children threatening parents and neighbours spying on neighbours - with police inundated with calls about smacked bottoms and slapped wrists.
"Smacking is a child-rearing tool that is, more often than not, used as a last resort. If the Ministers championing this move had children of their own, they would understand that children sometimes need to be brought back into line and given boundaries.
"Sadly, the Government is not banning smacking to address child abuse, but is simply following an ideological path. If Labour were truly serious about lowering abuse rates, then it would be examining the factors associated with abuse - such as family breakdown and long-term welfare dependency," Dr Newman said.
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