NAIROBI - The recent incident in which nine children were whipped with an electric cable for failing to complete their homework is very sad. 
It is no secret that children are often beaten at school and at home in the name of discipline. While discipline is essential in the development of any child, caning a child for whatever reason is not acceptable. 

Besides the physical and psychological torture the child is put through, caning is a frightful experience. It erodes a child's self-confidence, something the child will require in his or her entire adult life.

Both the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child and the African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child protect the child in matters of the administration of discipline.

Article 28.2 of the relevant United Nations Convention states that "State parties shall take appropriate measures to ensure that school discipline is administered in a manner consistent with the child's human dignity. 

Article 16 of the African Charter states that "State parties shall take specific legislative, administrative, social and educational measures to protect the child from all forms of torture, inhuman or degrading treatment, especially physical or mental injury or abuse, while in the care of a parent, guardian, or school authority, or any other person who has care of the child".

Kenya has ratified both the Convention and the Charter. It has thus committed itself to protecting children from all forms of abuse. In the recently enacted Children's Act, Kenya makes it criminal for a child to be put through inhuman treatment. The same law protects the child from all forms of abuse. 

All these laws are clear. Caning has no place in school discipline. The experience is usually painful, nasty and unforgettable. It has a long-term psychological effect. Such children will resent schooling because they associate it with pain and they lose their self-esteem. They also learn that violence is the best way to solve problems.

Such crude forms of discipline can only make children unruly, stubborn and headstrong and they are likely to engage in more serious offences. Is it any wonder, then, that our youth engage in orgies of violence?

We, therefore, hope the authorities will put a stop to this distasteful behaviour. The UN Convention is quite clear that in all actions taken on behalf of the child, the "best interest of the child" will be paramount.

Enacting a law is all right. The challenge is to implement it. It is only when justice is demonstrated that the number of gory pictures the media bring to our living rooms will decline.

The African Network for Prevention and Protection Against Child Abuse and Neglect (ANPPCAN) is a pan-African organisation concerned with the status of children. We provide free legal assistance to abused children and their families. 

HELLEN OBANDE, 
ANPPCAN Regional Office,