A Council of Europe ruling will today say Ireland is in breach of its human rights obligations by continuing to allow children to be slapped. The Irish Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children (ISPCC) is calling for the urgent introduction of a ban on all slapping of children as a result.
The ruling, which has been seen by The Irish Times, will be issued this morning by the European Committee of Social Rights in Strasbourg. The committee is a sub-group of the Council of Europe.
The judgment is the final adjudication on a complaint brought in July 2003 against five countries - Greece, Portugal, Belgium, Italy and Ireland - by the Paris-based World Organisation Against Torture. It said these states were in breach of their obligations under the European Social Charter by failing to ban all forms of corporal punishment of children.
The judgment says that article 17 of the charter states all signatories will undertake "to protect children and young persons against negligence, violence or exploitation".
Though the judgment is not legally binding, ISPCC chief executive Paul Gilligan said it provided the Government "with the necessary impetus to introduce legislation to provide a full legal ban on slapping".
He said Ireland was party to the European Charter on Social Rights and the collective complaints procedure, which facilitated the bringing of the complaint.
"Ireland deserves our compliments for that," said Mr Gilligan. "If there is to be some real point in being party to the charter, the Government should now follow through on this judgment."
He said a slapping ban would bring Ireland into line with 14 European countries, including Germany, Denmark, Sweden, Romania and Cyprus. A Department of Justice spokesman said it would study the judgment.
