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The Province of Lau has raised concerns that current law leaves parents and teachers uncertain of their authority to discipline children.

This uncertainty has contributed to a weakening of respect and moral formation among young people.

These concerns were raised during a submission to the Constitutional Review Committee.

The submission focused on children’s rights and the recognition of lawful discipline.

The Province states they do not seek to diminish constitutional protections for children against abuse, neglect, violence, or exploitation.

It stresses that those protections must remain absolute and vigorously enforced.

However, the Province submits that the law should recognize the legitimate role of parents, guardians, and teachers in the disciplinary formation of children.

The Province expressly rejects any blanket or unrestrained license for physical punishment. Instead, it seeks a narrow, defined legal recognition of reasonable and proportionate correction.

This must be confined strictly to discipline and hedged with clear safeguards.

The Province recommends reviewing Section 41 of the 2013 Constitution.

The review should recognize the responsibility of caregivers and teachers to administer reasonable discipline strictly for formative purposes.

It says this recognition must be enforced through a clear statutory code defining the strict limits of permissible correction.

The code must absolutely prohibit any correction administered in anger, or that causes injury, or that humiliates a child.

It must draw an unmistakable legal line between discipline and abuse, with meaningful accountability if that line is crossed.

The Province recommends that the constitutional rights of children to protection from abuse remain fully intact and strengthened where necessary.

Finally, it says any reform must align with Fiji’s international obligations, including the Convention on the Rights of the Child.

This ensures Fiji’s framework is understood as one of responsible discipline, never of harm.