New York, 2 September 2016 - SRSG Santos Pais warmly welcomes the promulgation of a new law in Paraguay prohibiting corporal punishment and all forms of cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment of children.
“I congratulate Paraguay for this landmark decision, which is of crucial importance for the protection of Paraguayan children from violence. The adoption of this law underlines Paraguay’s strong commitment to implement its international legal obligations on the rights of the child and in the implementation of the recommendations of the UN Study on Violence against Children”, SRSG Santos Pais said.
“Since 2006, the number of States having introduced an explicit legal ban on violence against children, including corporal punishment, has tripled. Now more than half of the United Nations Member States have either introduced the ban or firmly committed to do it. The significant legislative reform introduced in Paraguay today constitutes another milestone on the path to a global prohibition of all forms of violence against children.”
SRSG Santos Pais also highlighted the significant regional dimension to the changes introduced in Paraguay:
“With this important development in Paraguay, Latin America is moving closer to being a region where all children enjoy a legal protection from violence. Paraguay becomes the tenth country with such legislation, joining Uruguay (2007), Venezuela (2007), Costa Rica (2008), Honduras (2013), Brazil (2014), Bolivia (2014), Argentina (2014), Nicaragua (2014) and Peru (2015) in securing full legal prohibition of all forms of violence against children.
Article published in the website of the Predency of Republic of Paraguay (Spanish)
