The Court determined that two articles went against the essence of the law, and that as they were drafted it was tolerance of child abuse.
News Colombia
Unanimously, the Court struck down two provisions of the ‘Antichancla Law’, which prohibits physical punishment and cruel treatment as a method of raising or correcting children in the country.
One of the modifications has to do with the definition made in that law on the concept of “physical punishment.”
Faced with this fact, the Court determined that physical punishment cannot be defined as an “act of upbringing, guidance or education.”
The second provision that the Court overturned was the one that warned that parents could lose custody of their children, or parental authority; when the physical punishments were “repetitive” or affected the mental or physical health of minors.
Anti-flip flop law: from now on, and under the decision of a judge, a single act of physical punishment could end in the loss of custody of the affected child – https://t.co/7pntFYTyJL pic.twitter.com/oK5sp1B7fc
– News Caracol (@NoticiasCaracol) February 25, 2022
According to the Court’s decision, from now on it will not be necessary to prove that abuse was repetitive or habitual for the loss of parental authority to be configured.
Both the applicant and the Government argue that physical punishment cannot be supported; as a form of education or guidance; warning that the same law is very clear in prohibiting this type of punishment as a corrective measure to apply to children.
The decision was adopted on account of a lawsuit filed by the lawyers Manuel Díaz Sarasty and María Inés Figueroa.
