Governments in the Middle East and North Africa should outlaw corporal punishment of children, the group Human Rights Watch said Monday, introducing an index categorising countries based on their laws and policies. Human Rights Watch on Monday called on government in the MENA region to end "violent disciplinary punishment" of children, saying rates were the highest in the world. "Surveys have found that more than 90 percent of children suffer physical punishment at least once a month in countries like Egypt, Morocco and Tunisia," HRW said in a report. "The MENA region has some of the highest levels of corporal punishment in the world," including in schools, it said. HRW said it analysed the situation in 19 countries and found that most of them lack laws needed to end such punishment "while some have laws that explicitly permit it". In many MENA countries "assault is a crime when the victim is an adult but excused as if it were 'educational' when the victim is a child," said HRW's Ahmed Benchemsi. "Corporal punishment impedes the happy and healthy development of children... and is an enemy to their education," said Benchemsi. "It should end now." feb/hkb/fz