IT is difficult to ignore the data on corporal punishment and child abuse released by the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) on Monday. It’s difficult because the information is disturbing and painful.

According to UNICEF almost 400 million children under the age of five — roughly 60 per cent in that age group globally — experience violent, physical and/or psychological discipline at home, ranging from spanking to insults.

The data, UNICEF told us, was collected from 100 countries between 2010 and 2023, and cover both physical punishment and psychological aggression.

An Agence France Presse (AFP) report published in Tuesday’s edition of this newspaper states that UNICEF determines psychological abuse to mean screaming at a child, calling them “stupid” or “lazy”, while physical abuse includes shaking, hitting, or spanking a child, or any action intended to cause physical pain or discomfort, without injury.

The UN agency stated that of those nearly 400 million children, about 330 million of them experience physical punishment.

Additionally, UNICEF said that even if more and more countries are banning corporal punishment, nearly 500 million children under the age of five are not legally protected against such practices.

The report comes as we here in Jamaica are engaged in another round of the intermittent debate on corporal punishment, a practice which, as we pointed out in this space two weeks ago, has deep religious and cultural roots.

We also noted that, although corporal punishment is officially banned in schools, there are still many homes in which it remains the preferred method of punishment for errant children.

In fact, the UNICEF report reveals that more than one mother or responsible adult in four believes that physical punishments are necessary to properly socialise their children.

Achieving majority change in that thinking and behaviour won’t happen overnight. It will require sustained education for parents, guardians, and other adults on suitable alternatives to beatings, slaps, other violent acts, and, yes, verbal abuse, when there is need to punish children.

Vital to that educational effort must be a continued reminder to the public of Jamaica’s obligation as a signatory to the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child which, as we highlighted before, requires the authorities to “take all appropriate legislative, administrative, social, and educational measures to protect the child from all forms of physical or mental violence, injury or abuse, neglect or negligent treatment, maltreatment or exploitation, including sexual abuse, while in the care of parent(s), legal guardian(s), or any other person who has the care of the child”.

In a statement accompanying the UNICEF report, the agency’s Executive Director Ms Catherine Russell correctly pointed out that: “When children are subjected to physical or verbal abuse at home, or when they are deprived of social and emotional care from their loved ones, it can undermine their sense of self-worth and development.”

Obviously, based on the just-released UNICEF data, a lot of work needs to be done globally to get adults to the point where they accept that children can be permanently damaged in the absence of demonstrated love and respect.