A/HRC/13/39/Add.5 parts of the body. I am grateful to the Government of Jordan that my recommendation was taken up and Al-Jafr was closed in December 2006. 222. In some countries, corporal punishment is explicitly prohibited, such as in Sri Lanka under the Corporal Punishment Act No. 23 of 2 August 2005. However, in the course of my visit, I received disturbing complaints of cases of corporal punishment corroborated by medical evidence. In Bogambara prison in Kandy, I heard of a number of instances of corporal punishment and was informed of the names of prison guards who regularly beat prisoners. In the office indicated by the informants, I even found instruments that could have no use other than beatings, such as plastic tubes bound together in a bundle. I spoke to a detainee who bore visible marks on his back of recent abuse. The detainee indicated the following: “Nimal said, ‘You must learn how to speak to officers. We are the bosses and we can do what we want.’ Other detainees were ordered to hold him down while Nimal was beating him on the knees with a baton. He then had to stand spread-eagled against the wall while Nimal was beating him with a thumb-thick knotted electric cable on his back. After each blow he straightened the cable again. After 10 blows he could not stand the pain anymore and sat down. He begged him not to beat him anymore but he continued. More than 100 detainees were watching the scene through the office window. Nimal shouted dirty words about his mother at him, ordered him to kneel, apologize to the officers, and demanded that he worship him. When he did as he was ordered Nimal stopped the beating”.171 223. According to the study on violence against children conducted by Paulo Sérgio Pinheiro, corporal and other violent punishments are accepted as legal disciplinary measures for children in penal institutions in at least 77 countries. “Children may be beaten, painfully restrained, and subjected to humiliating treatment such as being stripped naked and caned in front of other detainees.”172 I noticed during my missions that children in detention were much more vulnerable to corporal punishment than adult detainees. 224. Article 376 of the Togolese Child Code provides that: “Corporal punishment and any other form of violence or ill-treatment are prohibited in schools, vocational training centres and institutions.” However, at the special juvenile detention centre in Lomé, where abandoned, trafficked and marginalized children, some younger than ten, were held together with young adults who had committed crimes, corporal punishment appeared to be a routine practice. The children reported that they were beaten with a special stick on the back or on the buttocks while others were watching; they had to crouch in uncomfortable positions for hours; and they had to hold their hands through the iron bars so they could be beaten on them. Children were punished for minor mistakes, such as talking in the cells.173 225. Similarly in Indonesia, Moldova and Kazakhstan, I assessed that minors and children are at high risk of corporal punishment and ill-treatment when they are in detention. At the juvenile detention centres in Pondok Bambu prison (Jakarta), as well as in Yogyakarta prison, many of the minors alleged that they had been beaten either by policemen or by co-detainees during police custody, often with the knowledge of the officers. At Kutoarjo juvenile prison, detainees consistently reported regular beatings, often in public, to intimidate the other juveniles. These allegations were openly admitted by the prison management. With regard to Moldova, I received credible allegations of corporal punishment and forced labour in the Lipcani educational colony, reportedly to prepare minors for life in adult prisons. In Kazakhstan, at the Centre for temporary isolation, adaptation and rehabilitation (CVIARN) Karaganda the register showed that some children 171 172 173 60 A/HRC/7/3/Add.6, Annex para 94. A/61/299, para. 62. A/HRC/7/3/Add.5, Annex paras. 27–36.

Select target paragraph3

Connect to a paragraph
Connect to an entity
Disable highlights
Add to table of contents