the Penal Code 1860, the Domestic Violence (Prevention and Protection) Act 2012, the Punjab Destitute and Neglected Children Act 2004, the Sindh Children Act 1955, the Sindh Child Protection Authority Act 2011, the Guardians and Wards Act 1890, and the Code of Criminal Procedure 1898 are not interpreted as prohibiting corporal punishment of children. 2.4 At a meeting of the South Asia Forum in July 2006, following on from the regional consultation in 2005 of the UN Secretary General’s Study on Violence against Children, the Government made a commitment to prohibition in all settings, including the home. In 2010, Government representatives in SAIEVAC (South Asia Initiative to End Violence Against Children) developed a national action plan to achieve prohibition and in 2011 endorsed a report on progress towards prohibiting corporal punishment in South Asia states which included an analysis of the reforms Pakistan.2 required in On 27 March 2014, the Ministry of Law, Justice and Human Rights announced the launch of a national campaign against corporal punishment of children, in collaboration with SAIEVAC and the South Asia Coordinating Group on Action against Violence against Children (SACG), and reaffirmed its commitment to prohibition in all settings: “The Government of Pakistan will take all legal and administrative measures requires to combat child.”3 corporal punishment and protect and promote rights of the 2.5 In recent years, a number of bills which address the issue have been under discussion, including a Child Protection Bill referred by the National Commission for Child Welfare and Development (NCCWD) to the interior ministry in 2010, which included prohibition (arts. 58 and 59) though its application to “light” corporal punishment was unclear. A Prohibition of Corporal Punishment Bill was laid before parliament in 2010 which would prohibit corporal punishment in education and care settings but not by parents in the family home; the Bill was passed by the National Assembly in March 2013 but fell before the election. In March 2014, a new Prohibition of Assembly;4 Corporal Punishment Bill was laid before the National this again failed to pass Senate.5 through the As at June 2016, the Criminal Law (Amendment) Bill 2015 had been Parliament.6 introduced to The Criminal Law (Amendment) Bill 2015 would amend the Penal Code with the insertion of a new article 328A on “cruelty to a child”, which punishes “whoever wilfully assaults, ill-treats, neglects, abandons or does an act of omission or commission, that results in or have [sic] the potential to harm or injure the child by causing physical or psychological injury to him”. The Bill does not clearly prohibit corporal punishment of children and does not amend section 89 of the Penal Code which provides a legal defence for its use. 2.6 A Prohibition of Corporal Punishment Bill is under discussion in Punjab. The Pakistan administered area of Gilgit-Baltistan prohibited in August 2016 all corporal punishment of children by passing the Gilgit-Baltistan Prohibition of Corporal Punishment Act. 2.7 Alternative care settings (partially lawful): Corporal punishment is lawful in alternative care settings under article 89 of the Penal Code 1860, article 35 of the Punjab Destitute and Neglected Children Act 2004 and article 48 of the Sindh Children Act 1955. It is prohibited in the Pakistan administered area of Gilgit-Baltistan, in the Islamabad Capital Territory (Prohibition of Corporal Punishment Act 2017) and in Sindh (Sindh Prohibition of Corporal Punishment Act). 2.8 Day care (partially lawful): Corporal punishment is lawful in early childhood care and in day care for older children under article 89 of the Penal Code 1860, article 35 of the Punjab Destitute and

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