Corporal punishment against children in the home setting in Ethiopia

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to (1) investigate the nature of corporal punishment against children in the home setting in Ethiopia and (2) examine why the state failed to ban it despite recommendations by the UN and others. To do so, a review of relevant literature and documents is used as a method. Also, Child Rights-Based Approach (CRBA) and Realist theory are employed to help explain results. The results of the study show that corporal punishment against children in the home setting is a legally and culturally accepted, widely practiced phenomenon in Ethiopia. As a result, the human right of children in Ethiopia is being violated by both parents and the state. The failure of the state to ban corporal punishment in the home setting is mainly due to cultural values and beliefs that consider corporal punishment beneficial for children and society. It is concluded that the state should ban corporal punishment in the home setting to protect child rights and to adhere to international human rights laws it ratified. Additional recommendations are also made in this study, i.e., emphasizing Human Rights Education (HRE), building a democratic system of governance, specifying the hierarchy between international and national laws, creating mechanisms for effective reporting of corporal punishment, strengthening the child protection systems, strengthening the social protection systems, and using advocacy.

Keywords: child right; corporal punishment; Ethiopia; human rights; human rights education, international law