CRC/C/GC/13
(b)
Physical bullying and hazing by adults and by other children.
23.
Children with disabilities may be subject to particular forms of physical violence
such as:
(a)
Forced sterilization, particularly girls;
(b)
Violence in the guise of treatment (for example electroconvulsive treatment
(ECT) and electric shocks used as “aversion treatment” to control children’s behaviour);
and
(c)
Deliberate infliction of disabilities on children for the purpose of exploiting
them for begging in the streets or elsewhere.
24.
Corporal punishment. In general comment No. 8 (para. 11), the Committee defined
“corporal” or “physical” punishment as any punishment in which physical force is used and
intended to cause some degree of pain or discomfort, however light. Most involves hitting
(“smacking”, “slapping”, “spanking”) children, with the hand or with an implement - a
whip, stick, belt, shoe, wooden spoon, etc. But it can also involve, for example, kicking,
shaking or throwing children, scratching, pinching, biting, pulling hair or boxing ears,
caning, forcing children to stay in uncomfortable positions, burning, scalding, or forced
ingestion. In the view of the Committee, corporal punishment is invariably degrading.
Other specific forms of corporal punishment are listed in the report of the independent
expert for the United Nations study on violence against children (A/61/299, paras. 56, 60
and 62).
25.
Sexual abuse and exploitation. Sexual abuse and exploitation includes:
(a)
The inducement or coercion of a child to engage in any unlawful or
psychologically harmful sexual activity; 9
(b)
The use of children in commercial sexual exploitation; and
(c)
The use of children in audio or visual images of child sexual abuse;
(d)
Child prostitution, sexual slavery, sexual exploitation in travel and tourism,
trafficking (within and between countries) and sale of children for sexual purposes and
forced marriage. Many children experience sexual victimization which is not accompanied
by physical force or restraint but which is nonetheless psychologically intrusive, exploitive
and traumatic.
26.
Torture and inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment. This includes
violence in all its forms against children in order to extract a confession, to extrajudicially
punish children for unlawful or unwanted behaviours, or to force children to engage in
activities against their will, typically applied by police and law-enforcement officers, staff
of residential and other institutions and persons who have power over children, including
non-State armed actors. Victims are often children who are marginalized, disadvantaged
and discriminated against and who lack the protection of adults responsible for defending
their rights and best interests. This includes children in conflict with the law, children in
street situations, minorities and indigenous children, and unaccompanied children. The
9
10
Sexual abuse comprises any sexual activities imposed by an adult on a child, against which the child
is entitled to protection by criminal law. Sexual activities are also considered as abuse when
committed against a child by another child, if the child offender is significantly older than the child
victim or uses power, threat or other means of pressure. Sexual activities between children are not
considered as sexual abuse if the children are older than the age limit defined by the State party for
consensual sexual activities.