Queen's Policy Engagement

Do collective punishments in classrooms breach the Geneva Convention?

In light of the recent #Avagate storm on Twitter, Professor Laura Lundy looks at how children's rights in the classroom should be protected to avoid them being punished for things they didn't do!

Do collective punishments in classrooms breach the Geneva Convention?

In short – yes. Just not the one that an 11 year girl from Glasgow claimed that it did. Ava’s response to a written question asking, ‘thing(s) my teacher can do better’ went viral after her father posted a picture of it on Twitter. Ava’s answer was:

Not use collective punishment as it is not fair on the many people who did nothing and under the 1949 Genva Conventions it is a war crime.

Is it a war crime? Of course not – the extremity of the claim was one of the reasons that #Avagate captivated social media. Conflict at school may seem like a daily battle to some teachers and children, but it doesn’t meet the legal definition of war. Is it a breach of a Geneva Convention? Yes, but not the one that Ava called upon.

Children’s rights in school are covered by the 1989 UN Convention on the Rights of the Child. One of the ironies of the children’s convention is that children had no input into drafting it. If they had, it would probably include an express provision saying they shouldn’t be punished for things they didn’t do. It does however give children the right, among many others, to be disciplined in a way that respects their dignity. Punishing a child for others’ misbehaviour is also arguably a form of degrading treatment, and adults and children alike have a right not to be subjected to that.

No adult would readily accept a punishment for others’ misconduct and yet we expect children to submit to this without objection. This ‘miscarriage of justice’ is just one of many ways that we treat children that we would never treat other adults. From being forced to stand facing a wall, hand over personal correspondence or comply with a series of often pointless dress codes, children report a series of micro injustices endured day and daily at school.

Charles Dickens was on point when he observed:

In the little world in which children have their existence, whosoever brings them up, there is nothing so finely perceived and so finely felt as injustice.

Ava’s social media story (real as it was) takes its place alongside those of fictional school heroes such as Nicholas Nickleby and Harry Potter, their popularity lying in the relatability: there can be very few of us who didn’t (perhaps still do?) feel outraged at a similar injustice at some stage in our schooldays.

What is also striking is the fact that the teacher and school had actually asked the question and then made the responses publicly available – her dad saw it on the classroom wall. That act of seeking the children’s views is a thoroughly commendable attempt to realise one of the most important rights in the children’s convention – the child’s right to have their views sought and taken seriously.

Ava’s dad stressed that Ava has a really nice teacher. Kudos to her for asking the question in the first place. If a breach of human rights (although not a war crime) is to be avoided, Ava’s views must be given due weight. If that happens, it should be the death knoll for collective punishment in one Glasgow primary school as it should be everywhere else too.

Ava’s dad asked Twitter if she should be grounded or get an ice-cream. The follow-up tweet was a picture of Ava with not one but two massive ice-cream cones and the caption ‘the people have spoken’. These were well-deserved and nicely timed for the hottest day of the year so far.

The British public recognised the injustice, Ava’s claim undoubtedly tapping into similar slights in their own childhood or experienced by their own children. Here’s hoping that this impromptu public referendum brings out about a reversal in the unquestioned use of collective punishments in school.

Let’s try not to punish anyone, children included, for something they didn’t do.

 

The featured image has been used courtesy of a Creative Commons licence.

Professor Laura Lundy
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Laura Lundy is a Professor in the School of Social Sciences, Education and Social Work at Queen's University Belfast, Her expertise is international children's rights with a particular focus on the implementation of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, education rights and children's rights to participate in decision-making. Laura has also have written extensively on national education and social security law.

6 Comments

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Actually what needs to be applied is the principle behind article #33. Everyone has rights, the children, and the pow’s. the reason for the incorporation of article #33 is because of what is expressed from collective punishment. it is rooted in intimidation and terrorizing. It is like if war is declared, then intentionally causing the death of another human being is not murder. likewise, if you become a pow then you are no longer part of the active aggression. hence, use of collective punishment can be viewed as an act of torture. by extracting the root principles, they can then be applied to the rights of our children. basically collective punishment in light of these principles starts to take on the character of bullying.

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my son was at the teacher’s desk getting help on an algebra problem. rest of class was talking teacher said quit talking students kept talking teacher made students write ten times. my son told her he wasn’ talking . she said i know but it’s not fair for the whole class to be punished and you not to be. my son ripped the writing assignment up . he go 3 days inschool

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yes, while it’s true that the battle in the school isn’t technically a war, Article 2 of the Geneva convention states that: “(1) In addition to the provisions which shall be implemented in peacetime, the present Convention shall apply to all cases of declared war or of any other armed conflict which may arise between two or more of the High Contracting Parties, even if the state of war is not recognized by one of them.” This means that even in times of peace the laws must be followed.

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In response to Peters comment, while convention 4 does state that they are to be followed during peace time, that is in reference to the 3 prior conventions and as such, the fourth, which covers protections of citizens and civilian rights is not included in that statement. this means that article 33’s rules on collective punishment of citizens, students, and likewise does not apply outside of war.

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The situation is in fact worse in Some schools. My son attended SIR FRANCIS HILL in lincoln, and not only do they apply punishments to all the children when only one or two broke the rules, but they two female teachers who are very close friends even apply punishment only to the boys if a boy breaks a rule, they do not apply the same for the girls.

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When I was a child ,I thought teachers chose writing lines because it was meant to cause physical PAIN. I was an adult by the time I realised writing wasn’t painful for other PEOPle. It something to do with HYPERMOBILITy I GUESS. Neither my sons NOR I can hold a pencil correctly without pain, and my sons have the right to use a keyboard in CLASs because of it. They can type all day.

So when my son was assigned pages of lines because the whole class was punished I was FURIOus. I asked him to type one line, cut and PASTe and print it, but the teacher specifically said it had to be written by hand .

I said fine, refuse the assignment, I will speak to the head , and they can suspend you if they wish, you will be forced to sit home and play video games and eat pizza instead of attending school for a few days. Sadly He refused, and SAt up for nights in pain working on it. He doesn’t like to be different .

Should the same happen with my youngest son, I can assure you he would most happily take SUSPENSION, as well as a consultation with the children’s law centre to see if he HAd a case against the school. Except that his head of year would stand up for him, she is too kind to do otherwise so it thankfully can’t happen with him.

Overall, their school is brilliant and they have some truly wonderful teachers who have left both boys considering teaching as future careers. So many teachers HAVE truly inspired THEm.

In addition , while I had a few abusive teachers as a child , the vast majority served as a lifeline for me. I remember one sharing a lunch with me when I had None, so many just trying to get to me to open up, and maybe I should have. Teachers would bring home books from their own homes, one even brought me books. They would sit at lunch or after school and JUST talk to me. A student teacher even took me home for meals, not directly from school as that wasn’t allowed, but I would run home and wait for her at my door. One even bought me SHOES, because mine were ripped and falling apart. There are more wonderful teachers than bad ones. I wouldn’t want to collectively blame them all.

And I do realise children can do wicked things too. I know some children torment other children and teachers. BUT the system as it stands is open to abuse. Even as a child, I knew some teachers hated boys , others were what we called creepy, but would be labelled as sexually abusive TODAy. Not many, and the lovely gYM teacher offered to break MR CREEPy’s Arms. After that he was better at keeping his hands where they belonged. And while I OPPOSE collective blame, may I issue a collective thank you to all the teachers like the gym teacher who stood up for students , even against other teachers.

We can’t change the world. As individual parents we can’t change the system either. But we can make sure our own children have an advocate. We an can and should make sure they know THey can say no to an adult. That they have rights and that we will defend those rights.

For those who have tried DESperately, and found the school unwilling or unable to safeguard their children, I would strongly recommend reaching out first to head of year, then HeadMistress, or headmaster of there are any of those left, and if all else FAIls contact the education authority and ask for an education welfare officer.

But I wish we also had something in place for those children whose parents won’t stand up for THEM. For those who parents don’t care.

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