Physical punishment of children

"To beat people is not good. Children are also people." With this sentence, the EPOCH organization sets its theoretical basis for its rebuttal of to the use of physical punishment, that is to say, violence on children.

In the present report, EPOCH gives evidence of the fact that in all languages there is a specific vocabulary from which we can differentiate between physical punishment to children and violence ("a big slap", "six of the best", "a wallop just in time") which reflect, at the same time, a unanimous social approval in relation to the use of such practices against children. Despite the fact that society in general condemns physical punishment in adults -the employment of violence to solve conflicts- the condemnation is much less important when we refer to children who, too frequently, undergo physical punishment with the aim of hurting or annoying them: beating with the hand or other objects, shaking up, pushing, scratching, pinching, tearing the hair, locking in or tiding them up. In most societies, children are the only group of people who are not protected against such physical aggression. From all this it can be inferred that, in general, children are considered "less" people than adults, that is to say, as having fewer rights.