GOOD PRACTICES IN THE PERUVIAN CIVIL SOCIETY TO END PHYSICAL AND HUMILIATING

PUNISHMENT

On February 2nd, 2018, 50 people jointly carried out by civil society

PROMOTING GROUP
representing 30 civil society institutions organizations and the children
PERU
and child organizations met and took part themselves, as they got organized, over
in the “Good Practices to End Violence the last 10+ years.
Against Children and Adolescents”
Workshop (Taller: Buenas Prácticas para It has been two years since this law has
eliminar la violencia hacia niños, niñas y been adopted, and neither the population
adolescentes.) nor the childcare service providers know
about it.
This meeting is part of the activities in
preparation for the Agenda 2030 for Children and adolescents are still victims
Children: End Violence Solutions Summit, of violence in their homes and schools.
and it allowed the participants to identify
and analyze good practices towards ACCORDING TO THE NATIONAL SOCIAL RELATIONS

ending physical and humiliating SURVEY, 73.3 % OF CHILDREN AGES 9 TO 11

punishment as an educational and SUFFER SOME TYPE OF VIOLENCE IN THEIR

upbringing method for children and HOMES; THIS PERCENTAGE INCREASES TO 81 %

adolescents. AMONG CHILDREN AGES 12 TO 17.

The Workshop also allowed
participants to know about the efforts
carried out by the Global Partnership to
end violence against children, and the
importance of Peru’s involvement in the
Agenda 2030 for Children: End Violence
Solutions Summit.
CONTEXT
Since December 2015, Law 30403 bans
physical and humiliating punishment, in all
spaces where children and adolescents
develop, and recognizes the right of
children and adolescents to Proper
Treatment.
the For the law that bans physical and
humiliating punishment on children to be
effectively enforced, the State needs to
allocate a specific budget that allows
disseminating the law, adapting and
improving the prevention and protection
services, raising awareness of, and training
the public service providers, generating
family support programs, and approving
supplementary regulations that allow the
law’s intersectoral implementation at all
Government levels.

This legal breakthrough was made

possible, thanks to the awareness raising
and political advocacy actions that were

1
IDENTIFIED GOOD PRACTICES AND THEIR CONNECTION TO THE GLOBAL
STRATEGY
to engage authorities at all three Government levels
Actual, and Vigilance on, Enforcement throughout the country, so that they guarantee that the
of the Laws and Commitments of the Budget includes the resources that will allow the
Peruvian State implementation of such goals and objectives in the 2012-
2021 National Action Plan for Children and Adolescents
For the purposes of promoting the effective enforcement
(Plan Nacional de Acción por la Infancia y Adolescencia
of the laws that protect children against violence, both the
2012-2021) – that are related to child protection against
civil society organizations and child organizations carry out
violence.
actions involving political advocacy, follow- up to, and
monitoring of, the enforcement of the regulations and
The Work Group (Mesa de Trabajo)3 is an example of a
commitments of the Peruvian State on behalf of children.
space for dialog between the civil society and the State to
They also generate spaces for dialog between the civil
promote the application of protection laws, as it allowed to
society and the State, in order to draw up and submit
identify breakthroughs and challenges in the
proposals, and advocate the implementation of the current
implementation and draw up proposals for the regulation
legislation before civil servants and protection service
of the Law that bans physical and humiliating punishment,4
providers.
two years after such law had been approved.

The experience of providing a nationwide online course1

The experience gained from child organizations that, by
has successfully engaged over 2,000 child protection and
means of surveys, identify and analyze the problems arising
care service providers in the dissemination and
from the application of the regulations and policies
implementation of the law that bans physical and
associated with violence at school, stands out as a civil
humiliating punishment. Such course has allowed its
monitoring and vigilance5 law enforcement strategy. The
participants to improve their level of understanding of the
results are shared and analyzed with the regional and
problem, to gain a better knowledge of the law, and to
national education authorities.
draw up proposals that allow the implementation of the
law, by taking into account the diversity of contexts
The experience of having organized children,6 who prepare
throughout the country. The proposals made by their
and submit reports on the level of implementing and
participants, their testimonies, and, mostly, their
solving the comments made to the Peruvian State by the
experiences in the field, are an evidence- based input that
Universal Periodic Review, provides another remarkable
will help to advocate at the levels of authority that have the
monitoring action.
responsibility of implementing the law.

The “No Budget, No Rights” Campaign (Campaña “Sin
2
Presupuesto, no hay derechos”) that aims at the
implementation of protection policies and regulations is
another political advocacy practice. Such Campaign seeks
Standards and Values
Civil society organizations organize Awareness Raising
Campaigns, for the purposes of reinforcing those standards

1 Organized by World Vision, Save the Children, and the Investment in
Children (Inversión en la Infancia) Group
2 Promoted by the Interinstitutional Group for Child Rights: To grow
without violence (Colectivo Interinstitucional por los derechos de
Niño: Para crecer sin violencia)
3 Jointly organized by Acción por los Niños, IPRODES, Paz y Esperanza,
Save the Children, and the Ombudsman’s Office.
4 Law No. 30403 approved in December 2015
5 Experience gained by ANALIT (The National Transformation Leaders’
Alliance)
6
An experience that involves school municipalities, working children
organizations, and child organization networks in various regions
nationwide.
and values that promote positive relations, equity, and
respect for children. The “A Pact of Tenderness” (“Un Pacto
de Ternura”) Campaign7 is one of the identified good
practices that promote a culture of proper treatment to
children.
Such mobilization and social awareness raising experience
that has been gained with the action and support of young
volunteers - both men and women -, organized children,
church organizations, social organizations, and the media8
has successfully included the physical punishment issue and
the importance of having it legally banned since 2015.
This Campaign also makes thousands of people aware (over
100,000 in 2017), by disseminating the negative effects of
punishment and the need to effectively implement the law
that bans it. As they sign the Pact of Tenderness, the
people, who have been made aware, symbolically commit
to leave footprints of love, communication, and respect on
children, instead of hurting, humiliating, and showing
indifference to them.
At political advocacy level, the 2017 Campaign successfully
engaged the President of Peru, 27 congressmen, and many
mayors and civil servants from child- protection associated
public institutions.
Other awareness raising campaign examples that make
children visible as subjects of law and with a right to live
their lives without violence, include the “Dare to Raise
with Love” (“Atrévete a Criar con Amor”) Campaign 9 and
the National Campaign for Proper Treatment (Campaña
Nacional por el Buen Trato)10 that every year mobilizes
over 27 organizations that are members of the
Interinstitutional Group for Child Rights: To grow
without violence (Colectivo Interinstitucional por los
derechos de Niño: Para crecer sin violencia)
7 Promoted by World Vision
8 17 nationwide and 44 regional coverage media
9 Acción por los Niños, IPRODES, Paz y Esperanza, Save the Children
10 Coordinated by the National Roundtable on the Fight against
Poverty (Mesa Nacional de Concertación para la lucha contra la
pobreza)
11 A body from the Municipality of Lima that provides security
services to the population. It Works in coordination with the police
Safe Environments
The Municipality of Lima’s Citizen Security Manager’s Office
together with neighborhood associations promote safety
and security in the streets and other spaces where children
and adolescents meet. As part of the “Your Friend the Night
Watchman” (“Tu Amigo el Sereno”) Program, Night
Watchmen Service staff11 and neighborhood leaders give
talks at schools and in neighborhoods, aiming at
strengthening parent- child relations, as a strategy to
prevent any risk behaviors and improve citizen security and
safety.
Parents and Caregivers receive Support
For the purposes of ending physical and humiliating
punishment as an educational and upbringing method for
children, various non- Government institutions have
developed training programs that aim at strengthening and
improving the capacity building of parents and child
caregivers.
The following stand out as good practices: The Positive
Discipline in Everyday Life (Disciplina positiva en la vida
cotidiana) Program,12 the “Seeds: Learning in Family"
(“Semillas: Aprendiendo en Familia”) Project,13 the
“Education with Tenderness” (“Educación con Ternura”), 14
and the Family Strengthening (Fortalecimiento Familiar)
Program15 to prevent violence by developing parental
capacities. In addition to training of, and awareness raising
to, parents, teachers, and/ or caregivers, the identified
experiences gather evidence and data16 that allow
identifying the positive changes in people, families, and the
lives of children that are made by this type of interventions.
Some support initiatives to families and caregivers are
identified as initiatives that focus on training and coaching
or accompanying families with children under 5 years of
forces to protect people and property and keep citizens calm and
public order.
12 Acción por los Niños, Paz y Esperanza y Save the Children
13 Fundades
14 World vision
15 SOS Children’s Villages (Aldeas Infantiles SOS Perú)
16 Monitoring by visits paid to households and/or impact
measurements through evaluations.
age;17 others, as initiatives that prioritize the capacity
18
building of families that show some risk factor; and still
others, as proposals that aim at training practitioners and/
or service providers, who are in touch with families and
children and, based on the work they carry out, they are
able to offer guidance and support to such families and
19
children.
Response and Support Services
ANAR has developed a good practice that has been
identified to improve child access to care and protection
services when faced with violence, by means of the ANAR
Free and Confidential Hotline that is open, on a daily basis,
20
nationwide. The hotline offers a space to listen to, and
guide children; it is run by psychologists, with a legal and
social work interdisciplinary approach, and it refers such
cases that require care to the specialized public or private
services that are closest to the victims’ place of residence.
It is important to point out that children living in high
Andean areas, and who speak Quechua, may be served by
practitioners, who are fluent in the children’s mother
language, and work with a cross- cultural approach.
School journalists21 in a rural community in Cuzco have
provided another experience that brings children closer to
response services and improves their self- protection skills.
After they have been trained, the school journalists share
with their peers (schoolmates), their authorities, and the
population in general, about protection mechanisms in the
face of various forms of violence: physical and humiliating
punishment, trafficking, exploitation or abuse. They
disseminate their rights through campaigns, talks, and
workshops, in coordination with the local protection
services.
Common Elements and Learnings from
the Identified Good Practices
Networking and coordinating with local protection services
to refer to them any detected violence cases is a
17 Fundades
18 SOS Children’s Villages (Aldeas Infantiles SOS Perú)
19 The Positive Discipline in Everyday Life (Disciplina positiva en la vida
cotidiana) Program
haracteristic to be found in all those experiences that
directly work with families and children.
Most of them generate knowledge, gather and process data
that will support the advocacy and awareness raising
actions they encourage at interinstitutional level.
All the experiences involve and promote the involvement
of various stakeholders (family, teachers, community,
service providers), encourage child and adolescent
involvement, and establish collaboration and coordination
relations with public institutions.
Another common element is that all the experiences align
with, and contribute to, the implementation of the public
policy that is described in the National Action Plan for
Children (Plan Nacional de Acción por la Infancia) and are
under the frame of the Convention on the Rights of the
Child.
An important element found in all the identified
experiences is their complementarity. Some of them
operate at household level, others, at service provider
level. Some of them prioritize work in the community
space, others work at schools.
A common challenge that has been identified in all the
experiences is to make the State successfully allocate a
higher budget to child protection. Other identified
challenges include: A need to advocate before the State for
the coverage and quality of care and protection services for
childhood to be improved; prevention efforts to be
increased and policies to be designed, so that they take
actions on the causes and factors that determine violence
against children. Some concerns that have been identified
in all the experiences include: The need to strengthen the
child policy governing body; the care quality issues in some
services, and the limited preventative actions taken by the
State.
20
Operated by the ANAR Foundation
21
Supported by Yanapanakusun, with advice from Terre des
Hommes, from Switzerland