The Coalition for the Protection of Children has renewed the call to outlaw corporal punishment following the report of an alleged assault of a 13-year-old schoolgirl by a private school employee.The employee in question, who was arrested for questioning, has been released on police bail pending further inquiries by police. The incident took place in early October.Child advocate Sheelagh Cooper said this latest police investigation “is a stark reminder of the fact that Bermuda is the only democratic country left that allows corporal punishment”.In a statement issued yesterday, Ms Cooper noted that the school in question “is one of two other private schools and countless nursery schools that still allows this practice”.“There is ample research to prove corporal punishment is not an effective method for discipline and has both short and long term detrimental effects on children,” said Ms Cooper.“Research indicates that physical punishment does not promote long-term, internalised compliance in children and is actually associated with less internalisation of norms for appropriate behaviour and compliance.”And she renewed the call to “re-examine the actual right of schools to implement corporal punishment”. Based on the research Ms Cooper said: “The mental health impact of corporal punishment results in children feeling distress, anger, fear, shame and disgust.“It is associated with higher levels of child aggression and antisocial behaviour including fighting, bullying and general behavioural problems as well as decreased capacity for children to internalise socially acceptable behaviour.“Physical punishment is also proven to put children at increased risk for mental health problems including anxiety, depression, addiction and general psychological maladjustment. This is also proven to persist into adulthood.”Citing research, Ms Cooper noted that children subjected to corporal punishment are “more likely to be adult abusers and engage in criminal and violent behaviour as a way to handle conflict”.A child’s right to protection from corporal punishment and “other cruel or degrading forms of punishment” was reaffirmed by a United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child in 2006.Said Ms Cooper: “Bermuda must question the right of schools to implement corporal punishment.”The UN committee also stressed the need to ‘move quickly to eliminate corporal punishment and to outline the legislative and other awareness-raising and educational measures to address widespread acceptance and tolerance of corporal punishment”.Defined as punishment using any physical force, corporal punishment was deemed “degrading to children” by the committee. It was also viewed as an infringement on the rights of children with respect to “human dignity and physical integrity.The committee also noted that children have a right to be protected from “cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment”.Ms Cooper concluded: “As a de facto signatory to the Convention on the Rights of the Child, Bermuda has not only a moral obligation but legal duty to reassess its cultural acceptance of physically harming our children in order to punish them, given these human rights issues in addition to the negative impacts that corporal punishment can have on children.”