The Children Are Unbeatable Alliance, comprising more than 400 individuals and organisations, wants people to register at www.childrenareunbeatable.org.uk/pressureyourmp.php, and it will send a postcard to their local MP. The campaign is calling for the law on assault to be modernised 'to give children the same protection as adults'.
Tony Samphier, campaigns communication consultant, said, 'We have had a fantastic response so far, but we need to keep it up and step it up.'
The Children's Act of 2004 allows for 'reasonable punishment' of children, which means that parents can discipline children with a smack as long as it does no more than cause a temporary reddening of the skin. However, anti-smacking campaigners say that a ban on corporal punishment for children is needed to comply with the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child and the European Social Charter.
