A non-violent childhood

Multiple research confirmed negative effect of the corporal punishment to the child’s life. The Baltic States have made significant progress in protecting the rights of the child by prohibiting corporal punishment in the process of parenting and education at the legislative level. 10 out of 11 Council of Baltic States members have banned corporal punishment of children. And now, countries are ready to share their good practices in order to promote positive parenting beyond the region!

As part of the Non-Violent Childhood programe, the Head of Council of Baltic States` Children at Risk Unit Turid Heibrg worked with a team of researchers and psychologists on a Comic book, explaining both to children and adults an essential information about harmful consequences of the corporal punishment. The aim is to raise awareness about the negative effects of corporal punishment for a child, including link between corporal punishment and aggression, depression, damaged child-parent relationship and even changed brain functions. The Comic book is available in following languages: Estonian, Finnish, German, Icelandic, Latvian, Lithuanian and Polish and 5 UN languages – Arabic, English, French, Russian and Spanish. Click on the link below to find versions in all languages!

The Comic book builds on the ongoing efforts to ban corporal punishment of children carried out by the Council of Baltic States. This includes a high-level conference held in Malta last November, as well as 6 Guidance reports on building corporal punishment free societies.