This week’s court ruling sentencing a father to a one-year jail term suspended for three years for beating his three sons has been greeted with no small amount of public incredulity. Many are questioning how the court could have let the man off so lightly after having administered regular beatings to his three sons.

The answer, plain and simple, is that the practice of corporal punishment, or, as the law ambiguously describes it, ‘reasonable chastisement’, in the family setting is still legal.

By definition, corporal punishment is the intentional infliction of physical pain as a method of changing behaviour and includes hitting, slapping, punching, kicking, pinching, shaking, the use of various objects – paddles, belts, sticks, or others - or painful body postures.

By allowing the practice, Malta is in violation of the European Social Charter. The United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child in 2000 and the UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights in 2004 called on Malta to correct the situation, expressing concern over the ‘reasonable chastisement’ provision and calling on Malta to explicitly prohibit all forms of corporal punishment.

Malta is one of 11 EU member states that still allows the practice within the home, in a reflection of the ‘spare the rod, spoil the child’ school of thought.

Raising the issue recently, European Human Rights Commissioner Thomas Hammarberg wrote a piece entitled “Time to give smacking a beating – children deserve total ban against adults hitting them”. He said that by hitting a child to drive a message home, that child learns it is acceptable to use violence to resolve disagreements, instead of being taught to listen and discuss.

The idea of physically punishing children, he observed, reflects an old fear of losing control over the child, adding: “I have often been asked how one is supposed to make children obey if one cannot hit them. The answer is: with words”.

He goes on to list three central arguments against the beating of children. First, he observes, it is both a human rights and a legal imperative, with both the Council of Europe norms as well as the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child requiring that children should be protected from all forms of physical or mental violence.

Secondly, he notes how people react strongly when an adult is beaten, and “would be thoroughly upset if a heated discussion ended with the opponent giving us a smack across the cheek”. Taking that as a yardstick, he questions why it should be acceptable for children to be hit, especially by someone they depend upon?

He also describes corporal punishment as “humiliating”, representing an attack on children’s self-esteem and self-confidence. It demonstrates disrespect for their human dignity and teaches them that violence is an appropriate way to resolve a conflict.

The education, employment and family minister recently observed that the legislation providing for corporal punishment should be looked into, quite correctly observing the grey area when it comes to the ‘reasonable chastisement’ provision.

“What is reasonable chastisement?” she asked. “We need to make certain clarifications. Let’s not take it as far as saying that smacking a child on the hand is chastisement; we have to be practical. But it is certainly not reasonable chastisement to beat a child with a belt.”

The children’s commissioner has made similar comments and positioned herself in favour of making corporal punishment illegal.

In passing judgement on Tuesday, the court, remarking that not even animals should be beaten to be taught a lesson, let alone children, observed how “unfortunately, it is part of Maltese culture to exercise harsh discipline on our children under the illusion it is for their benefit”.

The practice may be ingrained into Maltese culture to a certain extent, but it is now time for that particular aspect of culture to be dragged - kicking and screaming if need be - into the 21st century.

‘Reasonable chastisement’ is an excessively grey area when it comes to the black and white issue of the beating of children, for whatever reason. No form of violence against children, the country’s only natural resource, should be tolerated.

The trans-generational transference of the debilitating practice must be stopped dead in its tracks at this generation.