Recognizing Children’s Rights: From Child Protection to Children’s Human Rights—The 1979 Swedish Ban on Corporal Punishment in Perspective

Abstract

Sweden, taken alone or in conjunction with the other Nordic countries, is commonly perceived as a nation where the protection of children and children’s rights has significantly contributed to building both the welfare state and a national identity. The adoption of legislation that prohibits the use of corporal punishment within the family in 1979 is often seen as an example of Sweden’s modernization and commitment to the welfare state and has made the country perform as one of the leaders in the struggle for children’s rights. This chapter looks back at the political situation that has allowed the introduction of a legal ban on corporal punishment within the family, which was built on the concomitant establishment of a new type of relationship between children, the family and the state and on the advent of a multicultural society. Children’s rights were redefined step by step as a consequence of fundamental changes in the role of the state in representing, protecting, and controlling children in institutions such as orphanages, reformatories, childcare and penal institutions under state and government responsibility as well as in schools and in the family. The direct disciplining of children’s bodies by corporal punishment and humiliating treatment was curtailed and prohibited in public institutions and in due time also the role of the family. The discourses evolved around different representations of children’s individual rights, that were considered equal to those of parents, and of children’s physical, psychological and emotional integrity. The discussion evolved from a focus on the disciplining of older children to a focus on the maltreatment of infants; as a result of that corporal punishment in public institutions and educational and care facilities was banned. In the early 1960s which signified the advent of the expansion of the welfare state and family support with parental leave and childcare, corporal punishment was only accepted in the family and the integrity of the family from state regulation of the upbringing of children and gender relation was questioned. The immigrant population whose views on child rearing were presented as a problem during the 1970s necessitated more direct state intervention and policy of child protection. This position conflicted with the overriding principle concerning respect for various cultural values which formed part of Swedish immigration policy during the same period. The values concerning raising children, and the rights of children in Sweden, were established as fundamental, as human rights in a democratic society and in parity with universal democratic human rights. The 1979 Swedish law prohibiting corporal punishment of children was partly a reaction to the transformation of a relatively homogeneous society into a multicultural society but also a result of a fundamental change of the scope and organization of welfare institutions for children.