ACHIEVEMENTS

Some human rights work and activities done by the svghra during the past ten years.

CORPORAL PUNISHMENT OF CHILDREN AT SCHOOL

Saint Vincent and the Grenadines ratified the Convention on the Rights of the Child in the year 1993. An important principle of the CRC (See Article 28) is that corporal punishment should not be inflicted on children. But, in St. Vincent and the Grenadines the rules and regulations applicable to schools allow corporal punishment with a leather strap of sizable thickness, length and width.

The SVGHRA has been campaigning for the abolition of corporal punishment in schools. Many children have been injured from such punishment. The Association took a teacher to the High Court for causing physical injury to a 14 year old student. The Court found the teacher guilty of assaulting the student and ordered the teacher to pay compensation to the parent of the student. It was a landmark decision.

Education of teachers, and the legislators and educational administrators, and the general public is very necessary, over a sustained period of time, to get the revocation of existing laws allowing such punishment of children.