ASTANA, November 1 - Sputnik, Ksenia Voronina. The flashy headline of this article is one of the most popular searches on search engines. This is the subject of discussion in the sandbox, parental chats, within the walls of parliament.
The only correct answer to it is "no way". Clause 2 of Article 17 in the Constitution of the Republic of Kazakhstan clearly states: "No one should be subjected to torture, violence, other cruel or degrading treatment or punishment." In addition, in 2004, Kazakhstan signed the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, which says the same: “No child should be subjected to torture, ill-treatment or punishment, illegal arrest or imprisonment. No one has the right to humiliate or abuse him. "(Article 37).
However, in Kazakhstan for 25 years of independence the "unbeaten" generation did not grow up.
In 2016, the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) released the results of a study on violence and justice against children in Kazakhstan. According to the report, 75% of adults support the use of corporal punishment to discipline and control children in the family. This "family method of education" is considered acceptable by 34.4% of schoolchildren and 53.9% of inmates of correctional institutions. At the same time, 61.8% of schoolchildren and 78.9% of children from correctional institutions are regularly subjected to physical punishment in Kazakhstan.
UNICEF experts note that most of the parents who participated in the survey expressed support for the use of corporal punishment of children for discipline.
But this problem is familiar not only to Kazakhstan.
The family face of violence
Today, November 1, UNICEF released a new global report, A Familiar Face: Violence in the Lives of Children and Adolescents. In its name, a play on words, the English "Familiar" (acquaintance) is associated with "Family" (family) and indicates that often violence occurs from people familiar to children, often from close relatives.
Beating children begins from the cradle: in 30 countries, 300 million, that is, three out of four babies, aged from one to two, are subjected to forceful methods of discipline. 250 million children, or six out of ten, receive physical punishment.
The study revealed a pattern - children are more often beaten where domestic violence is committed against other family members. Every fourth child lives in a family where the mother is beaten.
7 billion people live on earth. According to UNICEF, 1.1 billion believe that physical punishment of children is right and necessary.
The child is beaten not only at home. The same study states that 130 million teenagers suffer from bullying in school. This concept includes bullying, psychological terror, and physical bullying.
Some adults believe that fighting among children is normal. That it is useful, especially for boys. That you can protect yourself from violence by learning to "fight back". That the child should learn to "solve his own problems by himself."
According to UNICEF, a teenager dies every 7 minutes in the world. In 2015, 82,000 minors died in similar circumstances. Most deaths are not the result of group conflicts, but of interpersonal conflicts. Two out of three teenagers become victims of murder, the rest are killed in conflicts.
UNICEF researchers have also explored the topic of child sexual abuse.
In 38 countries, 17 million women reported being coerced into sexual intercourse during childhood. Of these, 2.5 million girls were less than 15 years old. Nine out of ten victims were sexually assaulted by loved ones and acquaintances.
Why do we beat children and how to get rid of this "habit"?
Tatiana Aderikhina, coordinator of programs on education and protection of children's rights, notes that changing attitudes towards punishing children can reduce the level of aggression and violence in society as a whole.
“When we talk about violence, people imagine beatings and serious injuries. And they rarely think that a slap, a slap on the head is also violence. But there is also psychological violence, which also leaves grave consequences. Many parents sincerely do not believe that you can raise a child without shouting or cracking, "she says.
According to Adrekhina, this problem can be solved only through educational activities. To this end, UNICEF is launching a child abuse prevention program in Kazakhstan.
A pilot project has been launched in Kyzylorda and Mangystau regions and is showing good results.
"Our task is to help parents get information about alternative ways of raising children. To convey an understanding of the child's psychology and their own behavior in various situations. Very often, physical punishment is a parent's admission" I don't know what to do, I don't know how to do otherwise. " experience and knowledge that we want to share. Violence is not a method, violence destroys both the one who is beaten and the one who beats, "concluded the UNICEF human rights activist.
Beats means beats
Why corporal punishment is harmful and useless was explained by the popular psychologist Adriana Imzh. After a lively discussion on social media about whether to report facts when a parent is punishing a child physically, she wrote on her blog why children should not be beaten.
"When you hit a child, you destroy your credibility, reduce the likelihood that he will turn to you for help and generally want to communicate with you, break the child's relationship with his body and safety," Imzh writes on his page.
Read more about the UNICEF program and activities on the prevention of child abuse in the Sputnik Kazakhstan publication series