The legality of corporal punishment of children varies by country. Corporal punishment of minor children by parents or adult guardians, which is intended to cause physical pain, has been traditionally legal in nearly all countries unless explicitly outlawed. According to a estimate by Human Rights Watch , "Ninety percent of the world's children live in countries where corporal punishment and other physical violence against children is still legal".
This defence is ultimately derived from English law. Countries or territories that have or will have completely prohibited corporal punishment of children are listed below in chronological order :. Banned in , school corporal punishment was re-legalised in and punishments by physical pain lasted until the s. The instruments were rebenques , slappings in the face and others.
In Australia , corporal punishment of minors in the home is legal, provided it is "reasonable". The matter is also under review in other Australian states. A public opinion survey suggested the majority view was in support of retaining parents' right to smack with the open hand but not with an implement, [ 20 ] although as of [update] , there are no laws against using an implement in any state or territory.
School corporal punishment was explicitly prohibited in Austria in In , corporal punishment in the home was outlawed by removing the section in the constitution of assault in the Penal Code that stated that parents who have used "reasonable punishment" of their children shall not be punished for assault.
On 15 March , corporal punishment of children became explicitly banned through a new law stating that "using violence and inflicting physical or mental suffering is unlawful". Corporal punishment in schools was banned in Belarus during the Soviet era, however it was decriminalized after its authoritarian president Alexander Lukashenko took power in It is only permitted for male students older than It cannot be inflicted on girls.
