تنبيه بدنى كودكان - حسينى خواه، سيدجواد - الصفحة ٣١١ - ث) تفسير عمومى شمارهى ٨ كميتهى حقوق كودك

juvenile justice and all forms of alternative care. But it should be made explicitly clear that the criminal law provisions on assault also cover all corporal punishment, including in the family. This may require an additional provision in the criminal code of the State party. But it is also possible to include a provision in the civil code or family law, prohibiting the use of all forms of violence, including all corporal punishment. Such a provision emphasizes that parents or other caretakers can no longer use any traditional defence that it is their right(

reasonably

or moderately )to use corporal punishment if they face prosecution under the criminal code. Family law should also positively emphasize that parental responsibility includes providing appropriate direction and guidance to children without any form of violence.. The principle of equal protection of children and adults from assault, including within the family, does not mean that all cases of corporal punishment of children by their parents that come to light should lead to prosecution of parents. The de minimis principle- that the law does not concern itself with trivial matters- ensures that minor assaults between adults only come to court in very exceptional circumstances; the same will be true of minor assaults on children. States need to develop effective reporting and referral mechanisms. While all reports of violence against children should be appropriately investigated and their protection from significant harm assured, the aim should be to stop parents from using violent or other cruel or degrading punishments through supportive and educational, not punitive, interventions.

. Childrens dependent status and the unique intimacy of family relations demand that decisions to prosecute parents, or to formally intervene in the family in other ways, should be taken with very great care. Prosecuting parents is in most cases unlikely to be in their childrens best interests. It is the Committees view that prosecution and other formal interventions( for example, to remove the child or remove the perpetrator )