Bulletin IINfancia N° 5

Pinheiro, appointed by the United Nations Secretary General, reveals the following: “Violence against children exists in every State and cuts across boundaries of culture, class, education, income, ethnic origin and age. In several regions, violence against children is an accepted phenomenon and, frequently, legal.”

According to this study, with regard to the general outlook of violence against children, in at least 106 countries corporal punishment is not legally prohibited in schools; in 147 countries it is not prohibited in alternative care institutions and only 16 countries so far have prohibited its use in the home. In many countries, legislation focuses on penalties against sexual or physical violence against children, without taking psychological violence into account, nor measures for prevention, recovery and reintegration. In this regard, PINHEIRO states that: “Efforts to tackle the question of violence against children are frequently reactive and focus on its symptoms and consequences, rather than on its causes. Strategies tend to be fragmented and inadequate resources are allocated to measures designed to address the problem. In addition, international commitments to protect children from violence often do not translate into concrete action at the national level.”

The Special Rapporteur feels that it is not enough to condemn the practitioners of violence. It is necessary to change the mindset of societies and the underlying economic and social conditions that cause it. He suggests, for example, that the States should prohibit the death penalty and life imprisonment for children under the age of 18 years; that corporal punishment should be penalized; that the systematic training of professional practitioners and lay people who work with children should be promoted; that safe means of reporting 93