MEXICO CITY, Dec 12: The lower house of Mexico's Congress has unanimously approved a law that would prohibit all forms of physical punishment of children by parents, caretakers, teachers or guardians.
Spanking is out, as is a long list of corporal punishments that speak to how deep-rooted the practice is in Mexico.
The Congress said an estimated 63 per cent of children between 1 and 14 had suffered physical punishment.
According to congress, shoving, pinching, biting, hair- or ear-pulling, or forcing minors into uncomfortable positions, will all be outlawed.
The law, which now goes to the president for his approval, does not lay out specific punishments for each offence; violations appear to fall under domestic violence statutes in each state. - AP
