Media Release

1 May 2007

Children’s Commissioner to address International Inter-Parliamentary Union Assembly in Bali

Tomorrow, Children’s Commissioner, Dr Cindy Kiro will address the 116th Inter-Parliamentary Union Assembly (IPU) and related meetings on Violence Against Children in Bali jointly organised by the IPU and UNICEF. The Commissioner and will also attend the launch of the joint IPU and UNICEF handbook ‘What Parliamentarians Can Do about Violence Against Children’. Politicians from around the world are attending the Assembly.

Dr Kiro is part of a panel on ‘Violence against children: Making schools safe for children’ and will focus her address on legislation as a tool for stopping violence against children in schools.

Dr Kiro says that school and home environments must be created that are free from violence and safe for children and that legislation plays a key role supported by strong leadership and professional training.

“Schools are microcosms of our societies and that the interaction between schools, families and individual children and teachers, shape the experiences and outcomes of children within these environments. Each of these has an opportunity to create positive experiences for children that reduce the use of violence as a means of exerting ‘control’ over them. The biggest challenge to achieving this is our minds – our own attitudes and behaviours as family members, as professionals working in schools, as legislators and policy makers, and as children and young people,” says Dr Kiro.

“The Committee on the Rights of the Child in their June 2006 General Comment No. 8 stated that, ‘Addressing the widespread acceptance or tolerance of corporal punishment of children and eliminating it, in the family, in schools and other settings, is not only an obligation of States parties under the CRC (Convention on the Rights of the Child). It is also a key strategy for reducing and preventing all forms of violence in societies.”

“In 1989, New Zealand removed the legal right for teachers and schools to use physical punishment against children. At the time this legislation was passed, teachers were overwhelming opposed to its repeal. Within ten years, this had changed dramatically, and today the reverse is true. The overwhelming majority do not support the use of physical punishment or cruel or degrading practices as a legitimate tool to use against children in the classroom.”

“This change in culture and norms within New Zealand schools is the result of legislative change followed by intensive training of school principals and teachers for at least two years following the passage of the amendment to the Act. The creation of school cultures that use positive techniques rather than resorting to punishment, especially physical punishment has challenged many professionals but it is reality in New Zealand schools.”

“There are parallels that can be drawn with the current debate in New Zealand around Green MP, Sue Bradford’s bill to remove the defence of justifiable support force when charged with assaulting a child. Repeal of section 59 will be another step on the path to creating a safe environment for our young people. I believe that legislation will be the first step and that changes in attitutes and behaviours will follow – just as it has in schools and in other countries around the world who have legislated against physical punishment of children in schools and at home.”

“The bill will have it’s third reading tomorrow and I urge all those as leaders in parliament to place children and their right to a safe and positive environment at the centre of this important legislative decision and vote to support the bill,” said Dr Kiro.

ENDS

Children’s Commissioner, Dr Cindy Kiro’s full address to the Assembly can be found at www.occ.org.nz

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