France’s Constitutional Council, struck down [judgment, in French] a section of the Law on Equality and Citizenship on Thursday that expanded the definition of parental authority in the Civil Code to include rejecting all cruel, degrading and humiliating treatment, including all recourse to corporal violence. The law did not include any punishment [France 24 article] for violating the act, but was meant to be read out to couples when they were taking their wedding vows. The section (Article 222), was struck down because [advocacy website] “the amendment that had added article 222 to the Equality and Citizenship Bill had no link with the original text and thus was unconstitutional.”

The UN Committee on the Rights of the Child has previously requested [UN report, PDF] in a February 2016 report that France prohibit all corporal punishment against children, stating that “no violence against children is justifiable and that corporal punishment is a form of violence, invariably degrading and preventable.” The UN report also suggested that France change the term “parental authority” to “parental responsibility,” which it states is more in line with the rights of the child. The European Council has also criticized [European Council resolution] France’s use of corporal punishment on children, saying in March 2015, that it is a violation of Article 17 Section 1 of the Charter. The European Council noted that this same violation was found in 2003, 2005, and 2011.