Europe's top human rights body ticked off France on Wednesday over its failure to ban the smacking of children.
More than half of the 47 members of the Council of Europe, including Germany, the Netherlands and Spain, have completely banned any physical punishment of children.
But the practice is debated even within, and polls show widespread support in Britain and France for the right of parents to smack their own children.
In a widely publicised case last year, a Malaysian couple were sentenced by a Swedish court to 10 and 14 months in jail, for hitting their children.
Which other countries have laws prohibiting such corporal punishment?
There are more than 40 countries which have fully abolished the spanking of children, and they are mainly in Europe.
Europe
Estonia
San Marino
Malta
Macedonia
Albania
Poland
Liechtenstein
Luxembourg
Republic of Moldova
Spain
Portugal
Netherlands
Greece
Hungary
Romania
Ukraine
Iceland
Germany
Bulgaria
Croatia
Latvia
Denmark
Cyprus
Austria
Norway
Finland
Sweden
Americas
Nicaragua
Argentina
Bolivia
Brazil
Honduras
Costa Rica
Venezuela
Uruguay
Africa
Cabo Verde
South Sudan
Republic of Congo
Kenya
Tunisia
Togo
Oceania
New Zealand
Asia
Turkmenistan
Israel
Source: www.endcorporalpunishment.org