Nursery World - UKs macking laws draw fire from UN

The UK's position on allowing childminders to smack the children in their care has raised concern at the United Nations. The UNcommittee on the rights of the child published a report last week looking into the progress Britain has made on children's rights since signing the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child in 1991. The committee welcomed the fact that the National Assembly for Wales had adopted regulations prohibiting corporal punishment in all forms of daycare, including childminding, but said it was 'very concerned' that such legislation was not yet in place in England, Scotland or Northern Ireland.

The UNcommittee on the rights of the child published a report last week looking into the progress Britain has made on children's rights since signing the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child in 1991. The committee welcomed the fact that the National Assembly for Wales had adopted regulations prohibiting corporal punishment in all forms of daycare, including childminding, but said it was 'very concerned' that such legislation was not yet in place in England, Scotland or Northern Ireland.

Sue Owen, director of the Early Childhood Unit at the National Children's Bureau, said, 'This will be welcomed by the early years sector because it is well known that the entire sector is campaigning on this issue, particularly the childminders themselves.'

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