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Freedom to be a child
The Committee said the Government must:
35 Think again about the use of ASBOs as they may go against the rights of children to move around freely (freedom of movement) and to gather together (freedom of association and peaceful assembly).
An anti-social behaviour order, or ASBO, is a legal order that protects the community from the anti-social behaviour of one person. Breaking an ASBO is a criminal offence. There are more recommendations on ASBOs in the 'Youth Justice' section.
36 Think again about the use of the "Mosquito" device and other measures as they may go against the rights of children to move around freely and to gather together.
A " Mosquito" device is an ultrasonic device that works by making a high-pitched ringing sound. It can only be heard by under-25s. Mosquito devices are used to stop teenagers from gathering in public places.
37 Make sure that children are protected against unlawful or unnecessary interference with their right to privacy.
38 Introduce stronger rules to protect information about children.
39 Do more to respect the privacy of children in the media, and especially to avoid publicly shaming children. This should be done in partnership with the media.
40 Make rules about children's involvement in TV programmes (especially reality shows) to make sure their rights are not ignored.
41 Make sure restraint is only used against children as a last resort, and only to prevent harm to the child.
42 Ban all ways of physically restraining children for the reason of "discipline".
Restraint is physically holding someone to stop them doing something, for example, to stop them hitting someone else or hurting themselves.
43 Ban all physical punishment in the family.
44 Make sure that physical punishment is clearly banned in schools, in care and in all other institutions.
45 Make it less acceptable to use smacking to bring up children by promoting positive and non-violent ways of disciplining children, and respect for children's equal right to human dignity.
46 Provide education and training on how to positively bring up children for parents and for adults working with children.
47 Do everything the Government can to put the recommendations from the UN Study on Violence against Children into practice.
48 Use the recommendations from the UN Study on Violence against Children to make sure every child is protected from all physical, sexual and mental violence.
The UN Study on Violence against Children was set up in 2002 to get a picture of how children across the world experience different forms of violence. It made over 60 recommendations for how violence against children can be prevented.
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