تنبيه بدنى كودكان - حسينى خواه، سيدجواد - الصفحة ٣٠٧ - ث) تفسير عمومى شمارهى ٨ كميتهى حقوق كودك

use, but provide a duty to use it. Freedom of religious belief is upheld for everyone in the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights( art. ), but practice of a religion or belief must be consistent with respect for others human dignity and physical integrity. Freedom to practise ones religion or belief may be legitimately limited in order to protect the fundamental rights and freedoms of others. In certain States, the Committee has found that children, in some cases from a very young age, in other cases from the time that they are judged to have reached puberty, may be sentenced to punishments of extreme violence, including stoning and amputation, prescribed under certain interpretations of religious law. Such punishments plainly violate the Convention and other international human rights standards, as has been highlighted also by the Human Rights Committee and the Committee against Torture, and must be prohibited.

V. Measures and mechanisms required to eliminate corporal punishment and other cruel or degrading forms of punishment

. Legislative measures

. The wording of article of the Convention builds upon article and makes clear that legislative as well as other measures are required to fulfil States obligations to protect children from all forms of violence. The Committee has welcomed the fact that, in many States, the Convention or its principles have been incorporated into domestic law. All States have criminal laws to protect citizens from assault. Many have constitutions and/ or legislation reflecting international human rights standards and article of the Convention on the Rights of the Child, which uphold

everyones

right to protection from torture and cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment. Many also have specific child protection laws that make illtreatment

or abuse

or cruelty

an offence. But the Committee has learned from its examination of States reports that such legislative provisions do not generally guarantee the child