End of slaps or beatings? The major amendment to the Civil Code, which Echo24 reported on recently, brings, in addition to the reform of divorce proceedings, one complete novelty. And that is the inadmissibility of physically punishing children. The new legislation is supported by politicians across the coalition. According to them, this is primarily a symbolic message to the public and the new paragraph is primarily declarative in nature.
The amendment to the Civil Code, which changes a number of things in divorce proceedings, also changes section 858 on parental responsibility. “Parental responsibility includes the duties and rights of parents, which consist in the care of a child, including in particular the care of his health, his physical, emotional, intellectual and moral development without physical punishment, mental hardship and other humiliating measures,” reads the draft amendment, which prepared by the Ministry of Justice.
“Corporal punishment of children is contrary to human dignity. They are unacceptable, even in a domestic environment. The Czech Republic is one of the last countries in the European Union without a clear legislative anchoring of the unacceptability of corporal punishment,” Minister of Justice Pavel Blažek said about the planned amendment.
The amendment meets the objections of the European Committee for Social Rights. He found that the inadmissibility of such conduct has not yet been enshrined in the Czech legal order, and that the Czech Republic is in violation of the European Social Charter. According to the co-author of the amendment, Eva Decroix (ODS), the amendment is only a reaction to a social shift, when, for example, children no longer act as objects of rights, but as participants in the proceedings. According to her, it is nonsense that they can still be the target of physical punishment.
“Previous jurisprudence and the entire academic community have already given the interpretation that corporal punishment is not part of parental responsibility. And there were only cases when there was a gross violation – now please, we are not talking about face, but abuse. And we do not have that boundary set. It is trying to set a boundary, no one will ever solve the slap,” Decroix told Echo24.
According to her, the amendment to the Civil Code is mainly a symbol in this respect. “There are certain symbols, and the civil code is something like the bible of civil law, so I don’t see anything contradictory about setting such a standard in the law and it will always be judged by the court in the end,” stated Decroix.
Decroix also pointed out that the Civil Code currently lists socially inappropriate behavior, which it does not punish, but only declares. “It is written there that spouses should be faithful to each other, I have not yet noticed that we would lock someone up for infidelity, so it is actually on the same level, it is simply symbolic,” said Decroix regarding the mentioned paragraph.
According to other politicians contacted, the change has broad support. Marie Jílková (KDU-ČSL), chairwoman of the permanent parliamentary committee for the family, expressed her opinion similarly to Decroix. She pointed out that the amendment to the Civil Code does not introduce criminal liability. “Certainly there is no threat of a slap in the face, and there will be no threat. The change in the law does not introduce criminal liability for parents; it is a change in the Civil Code, where standards of conduct are established, often declaratively. The fact that we establish that physical and psychological violence against children is not an acceptable educational method , is an important message to the public. Physical violence does not work as an effective educational tool, and this is confirmed by all previous research and statements by experts. The goal is not to punish parents, but to support education through other educational methods than corporal punishment,” Jílková told Echo24.
According to Barbora Urbanová, the legislators of the STAN movement will also support the amendment. “I take it that we really have to tell the public (in line with modern research in this area) that you can’t have philosophical discussions about what is and isn’t disproportionate punishment, because even a person who makes his child kneel in the corner on a pea , feels that this punishment is adequate. No one will punish anyone for a parental failure ending in a slap on the ass, but the fact that the situation can and should be solved differently is now scientifically proven,” Urbanová added.
While the MPs agree with the ministry that the new version of the Civil Code will not lead to the criminalization of the occasional slap, Decroix points out that, from her point of view, another part of the new section, namely the wording of “other humiliating measures”, may cause controversy. “That’s going to be a big problem, I imagine, because it’s written very broadly. Some feel that the humiliating measure could be confiscating the phone or turning off the wi-fi, for example. So that’s where I think the conservative part is going to have a big problem with that , I expect the discussion around it,” said Decroix.
The amendment to the Civil Code has already gone through the comment procedure and is now heading to the government. However, the exact date when it will be discussed by the government so that it can head to the plenary session of the Chamber of Deputies is not yet known. The ministry is also preparing education and campaigns for positive parenting.
Tags: slaps coalition physical punishment children inadmissible law
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