CHILDREN ARE UNBEATABLE CAMPAIGN

Early day motion 1460, tabled 24 June 2003 by David Hinchliffe (Labour). Signed by 83 members.

That this House welcomes the current campaign of the Children Are Unbeatable Alliance entitled, Hitting Children is Wrong and the Law Should Say So; further welcomes the Joint Committee on Human Rights report which concludes that the 1860 law allowing 'reasonable chastisement' should be scrapped in line with the recommendation of the UN Committee of the Rights of the Child; notes that the Health Select Committee has also proposed the same measure in the interests of child protection; believes that children, as the smallest and weakest in society, should be afforded the same protection from being hit as adults and that equal protection for children is a fundamental human right; recognises that changing the law to give children equal protection is a requirement of the UK's obligations under the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, the European Convention on Human Rights and the European Social Charter; and urges Her Majesty's Government to investigate the progress made in many other countries on this issue with a view to modernising the law throughout the UK at the earliest possible opportunity.

Signatures by party: Labour 56, Liberal Democrat 19, Labour/Co-operative 3, Plaid Cymru 3, Independent 1, Scottish National Party 1.