University NewsUniversity News
Alicante, 2nd February 2012
The protection of children against all forms of violence is a political priority for the Council of Europe's member countries.
The University of Alicante participates in the European project "Eradication of the use of physical punishment on children within family and institutions", which aims to contribute to the elimination of corporal punishment in children by developing programmes, awareness and training materials for parents and professionals of the social and school scope related to methods other than physical punishment.
The initiative is sponsored by the European Commission's DAPHNE III PROGRAMME, has a total budget of EUR 24,301.84 and is valid until February 2013. The countries involved are Spain, Estonia, Poland, Germany, Italy and the UK. The promoter is the Altea-España Association, Spain and the working teams are for Spain: University of Alicante's and Los Arcos Association, for Estonia: Tartu University, for Poland: Fundacia Dzieci Niczyje (Nobody 's Children Foundation), for Germany: Camino; for Italy: Centro de Solidarietà di Reggio Emilia (CEIS) and for the United Kingdom: Canterbury Christ Church University.
The project also aims to undertake the preparation of a European recommendation draft for the eradication of the use of physical punishment that incorporates "legal action, awareness and training in alternative methods of discipline", as states researcher Conrado Moya, assignd to the Department of Communication and Social Psychology and coordinator of this project at the University of Alicante.
In this regard, Moya highlights the importance of the development and the preparation of programmes to promote awareness as a preventive measure aimed at "parents, professionals and the population at large", and points out that "the purpose of exercising the right of correction must always be oriented to the self-interest of children from the point of view of their education or personal development". So the term "correction" has to be taken as synonymous with "education", with reference to the connotations that intrinsically make up every educational process, "not considering as such the use of of violence for educational purposes".
Since 2007, Daphne Programme has funded nearly 200 projects that have helped to prevent and fight all forms of violence, whether occurring in the public or private scope, affecting children, youth and women, including sexual exploitation and human trafficking by adopting preventive measures and by providing support and protection for victims and groups at risk.
The Programme has funded successful projects through which European networks have been created, they have shared good practices, produced several publications and studied the phenomenon of violence.
The problem of violence remains being endemic and the need for a European response is as necessary now as it was in 1997 when the first Daphne Initiative was started. The demand for funding remains very high, which indicates the importance of the needs of the victims of violence (women, children and youth).
