Rain Barrel backs UN Secretary-General on bullying
Rain Barrel is proud to help take the campaign against bullying to a new level: the UN General Assembly. We were asked to help prepare the report of the Secretary-General on protecting children from bullying and cyberbullying that was submitted to Member States on October 12.
Long involved in efforts to stop violence against children (including at UNICEF and in our work with Cartoon Network Latin America on the successful Stop Bullying: Speak Up! campaign), Rain Barrel was asked by the Special Representative of the Secretary-General on Violence against Children, Marta Santos Pais, to help prepare her team’s report on the long-term negative consequences of bullying, including cyberbullying, on children worldwide.
Rain Barrel Associate Roberta Brangam, who headed the UN editorial team at Headquarters until 2010, took on the daunting assignment to bring a vast body of studies and documents into a powerful report of a tight (!) 25,000 words.
Roberta drew on a wealth of research and numerous reports on the subject of bullying, including academic research papers and significant publications by the specialized agencies of the United Nations (inter alia, by UNICEF Innocenti, the World Health Organization and UNESCO), as well as urgent reports by non-governmental and private sector organizations calling attention to the problem.
All recognize that bullying, an ugly and often tolerated form of discrimination and violence, has, with the advent of the Internet and social networks, become a pervasive, insidious and often inescapable presence in our societies, doing untold damage to our children in particular.
Roberta’s challenge in writing the report, which was done in close coordination with the staff of the office of the Special Representative, was in synthesizing the most reliable information on both bullying and cyberbullying. It needed to focus the attention of Member States on the nature of bullying and its impact and global prevalence while drawing attention to the fact that bullying is among children’s top concerns, particularly children who are at heightened risk.
The report also highlights the measures taken to prevent and address bullying, including initiatives by governments, the specialized agencies and the private sector, for example by Facebook and by Cartoon Network Latin America, a Rain Barrel client, and public policies and legislation in response to bullying. The report reviews global trends in the use of restorative approaches, including inside the juvenile justice system, to repair damage and restore the confidence of the children affected, whether as victims, bystanders or as perpetrators.
The recommendations advanced by the Secretary-General in his report include the promotion of:
Information, awareness-raising and social mobilization initiatives
Evidence-based initiatives
Inclusion of children in the preparation of anti-bullying programmes
Provision of information on available support services to children and their families
Explicit protections from bullying for children in vulnerable situations
Support for parents and caregivers in developing non-violent discipline skills and in identifying the warning signs of bullying
Whole-school and whole-community programmes to address the problem and to safeguard children’s physical and emotional safety
The crucial role of teachers in preventing bullying
Clear and comprehensive legislation to protect children from bullying, including cyberbullying
Breaking the silence and promoting a positive change in attitudes through the collection and wide dissemination of accurate, reliable and disaggregated data on the scale and nature of bullying
Further research on the dimensions of bullying that have been neglected, including, importantly, young children’s experiences, the nature and impact of bullying on children in the global South and its impact over the life cycle.
The 71st session of the General Assembly is on the way to adopt the report and a resolution on protecting children from bullying, encouraging the advancement of legislation, policies and programmes by Member States to address this global threat to children’s welfare.
For the “takeaway”, the one essential piece of information stressed in the report, and the most important thing to remember from an individual point of view, is that young or old, rich or poor, North or South, most people who bully have been bullied, and most people who have been bullied will also bully others.
The central message is that we all have responsibilities to stop in this socially destructive interaction, and that it is through awareness and education – and the building of measures to counteract this behaviour – that all forms of bullying will be seen as unacceptable and preventable.
Our congratulations to Roberta for helping prepare this groundbreaking report and to the Office of the Special Representative for the courage to put bullying and cyberbullying on the international agenda!