Yesterday (April 27), the Council of Europe held a debate on corporal punishment of children, including spanking, in Strasbourg, France.
Speakers opposed spanking as a way to punish children.
A press release on the Council of Europe website states, "Today, 20 European countries have introduced a ban of corporal punishment and eight have committed to do so."
Sweden was the first country to ban corporal punishment thirty years ago.
In France, Member of Parliament Edwige Antier introduced a bill in January banning all types of corporal punishment of children, including spanking.
In 2006, the United Nations General Assembly set a target date of 2009 as the year to abolish corporal punishment in all countries.
In Canada, the court ruled that reasonable spanking could be used, but no slaps or hits to the head, and no objects can be used. It also ruled a spanking should not be given to children under two years.
A study recently published in the journal Pediatrics found that children who were spanked at age three were more aggressive by age five.