The hesitation of the UK Government and some other states to grasp the nettle and legislate to respect children's fundamental rights appears to be based on their perception of and fear of public opinion. Banning corporal punishment is still a controversial issue in some states.
But where the human rights obligations of the state are clear-cut, as in this case, it must be the task of governments to shape public opinion.
Decisions of the European Commission and Court of Human Rights have underlined that banning all corporal punishment does not breach rights to family privacy or religious freedom.
At least ten member states of the Council of Europe have explicitly prohibited all corporal punishment, and more have removed defences equivalent to the 'reasonable chastisement' defence. Building on this progress, we must move to a Europe-wide ban on all corporal punishment of children.
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