Europe-France controversy: Find out which countries ban the smacking of children

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

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