Today, Beatbullying will lead over one million people from all corners of the globe in The Big March 2012 – the world’s first global virtual march for children’s rights, to issue a call to the United Nations to protect young people from all forms of bullying and child on child violence.
With one in ten parents around the world confirming their child has been cyberbullied, Beatbullying is calling for bullying to be added to the UNCRC.
Marking a new chapter in campaigning and digital history, The Big March 2012 will begin in the UK at 8am as the avatars of supporters of the Big March 2012 leave the charity’s homepage and march in real-time across UK and global partner websites. Partners include Disney, Facebook, Clarks, Universal Music, Robinson Fruitshoot, TalkTalk, Nominet Trust, PEAS (Africa), Parentline (Australia), World Child Cancer and GirlGuiding UK.
Supporters around the world marching today include hundreds and thousands of teachers, parents and students of all ages, schools and Universities including Plymouth, De Montfort and University College London. In addition thousands of organisations have joined Beatbullying’s fight for children’s rights - 20 per cent are UK-based while 80 per cent are global. Well-known names such as Stephen Fry, Aston Merrygold, Pixie Lott, Alesha Dixon, Kathryn Jenkins, the full cast of Channel 4’s Hollyoaks and Archbishop Desmond Tutu, will also march today.
With three quarters of world citizens saying cyber bullying needs special attention The Big March’s aims has united individuals across the world. Marchers come from over 190 countries, with significant numbers from the UK,Australia, Turkey, Brazil, United States and Greece in particular.
The digital march will end at a virtual representation of the UN Building in New York where the supporters will come together to ask that the following statement is enshrined within the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC).
“The right of every child to be safe from bullying, violence and the fear of violence by their peers as well as from abuse by adults”
Beatbullying will also deliver an offline petition to the UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon and if the charity’s bid is successful, it will be the first time that the Convention has been updated in over 10 years.
Governments and world leaders who have ratified the UNCRC are bound to it by international law and are therefore obliged to introduce and implement measures and legislation which serve to protect children. The addition of ‘bullying’ to the Convention will give weight and legitimacy to the demands of children, families, schools, and communities who want to build a world where bullying is unacceptable.
Emma-Jane Cross, CEO of Beatbullying, said:
“This is people power at its best and we’re thankful to everyone who believes in standing up to bullying by joining with us on this decisive day.
“There is currently no reference to bullying or child-on-child violence in the UNCRC but the hundreds and thousands who have joined the March prove that bullying has a detrimental impact on so many young lives affecting self esteem, physical and mental health and education. Every child deserves to life a happy and healthy life.
“The Big March 2012 gives the global community the chance to sign up and show their support by asking the United Nations to enshrine a child’s right to live free from bullying, harassment and abuse within the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC).
“By approaching the UN, Beatbullying is taking its fight against bullying a step further – approaching the highest powers in the world! We have a child protection crisis on our hands, and today we will march together as global citizens, standing up and taking action.”
Archbishop Desmond Tutu comments:
“Children are one of the most vulnerable groups in today’s society. It is very sad to learn that bullying affects so many of our young people, some with catastrophic results.
“ I am thrilled to know that my involvement in Beatbullying’s The Big March 2012, the world’s first global march, will help promote positive change for the protection of young people against bullying across the world.“
Annika Small, CEO of Nominet Trust, said:
“The internet is the single most powerful collaborative tool that we’ve ever had. The Big March is a powerful example of collaborative campaigning in action. Nominet Trust is proud to support this online demonstration mobilising people to take a stand against bullying.”
The Big March 2012, builds on the success of 2010’s award-winning campaign that saw parents, teachers, young people, celebrities and MPs sign up to support the UK campaign. Beatbullying delivered a petition to a virtual 10 Downing Street, asking for the Government to protect children and young people from all forms of bullying and harassment. It resulted in an offline deputation with Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg, where Beatbullying delivered its recommendations.
Sinn Fein Deputy Seán Crowe met in Leinster House with members of the National Anti-Bullying Coalition and pledged his support for the examination of a strategy to address the problem of bullying in schools.
Deputy Crowe was accompanied to the meeting by Sligo- Leitrim TD Micheál Colreavy and Senator Kathryn O’Reilly the party’s education spokesperson in the Seanad. The Sinn Féin representatives committed their full and active support to the establishment of a new forum to tackle bullying in schools.
Deputy Seán Crowe said:
“This was a very useful discussion and I wish to commend the work of the National Anti-Bullying Coalition (NABC) for the important work it is doing to introduce structural change in the way bullying is dealt with in schools.
“Government claims that we are making progress in addressing this issue do not reflect the reality in many schools, where bullying is extremely damaging and is often a contributory factor to mental health problems, self-harm and even suicide.
“Recent studies have shown that bullying is related to physiological problems and absenteeism amongst staff and pupils.
“We need to recognise that many victims of bullying are forced to leave school and this leads to problems in later life.
“We also know that over half of male bullies have at least one criminal conviction and these figures seem to be rising.
“Ireland is a signatory to the Council of Europe’s Children’s Charter yet there is no training for teachers to deal with this issue and there is no clear mechanism in place in schools where complaints can be properly and thoroughly dealt with.
“At Friday’s meeting I pledged Sinn Féin’s support for the work of the NABC and the implementation of the Safe School Programme that will introduce accredited measures to address bullying.
“I welcome NABC efforts to establish a forum to overhaul treatment of this problem: a training programme to recognise bullying; a school strategy for dealing with disclosure and the implementation of audits in the education system to assess what the classroom climate in schools is really like. This is a growing problem and it must be tackled.”
Beatbullying’s Big March 2012 is the world’s first virtual, global march for children’s right to be safe. On 1st March 2012, thousands of virtual marchers will cross the websites of the world biggest brands. Beatbullying is calling on individuals, celebrities, politicians, charities, businesses and communities to take part in the march which will culminate with the delivery of a petition to the United Nations Building in new York, asking the UN to explicitly enshrine “bullying” in the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC):
“The right of every child to be safe from bullying, violence and the fear of violence by their peers as well as abuse by adults”.
This will help to protect children all over the world from the pain and distress of bullying and harassment. If successful, it will be the first time that the Convention has been updated in over 10 years.
Governments and world leaders who have ratified the Convention are bound to it by international law and are therefore obliged to introduce and implement measures and legislation which serve to protect children. The addition of ‘bullying’ to the UNCRC will give weight and legitimacy to the demands of children, families, schools, and communities who want to build a world where bullying is unacceptable.
Any individual or group can sign up to participate by visiting Big March 2012 where you can register, create an avatar for yourself and sign the petition. If you have a blog, website, or facebook account, you can download material from the toolkit to add to your site.
The NABC is proud to have signed up. Please join us and take a stand against bullying and violence – and protect our children’s right to be safe.
It started with a tweet. I never thought it would come to this: #twitterxmassingle!
On Saturday 19th November, I was doing some late night lurking on twitter when I saw a tweet from @BrendaDrumm who had just had a crazy thought: “What about recording a Twitter Xmas single/anyone?” At that hour of the night, crazy ideas somehow never seem quite so crazy. Amongst other ideas, people suggested that it could be for a charity such one related to mental health. So, I signed up and went to bed. By Sunday morning, the thing had grown legs and the tag #twitterxmassingle was spreading fast. The charity had been chosen: Unit 8, the special care baby unit at The National Maternity Hospital, Holles Street.
The National Anti-Bullying Coalition was set up last March to protect vulnerable children from the damage caused by bullying in school. Our vision is to bring about the introduction of a Nationwide Safe Schools Programme so that our children are educated in an environment of dignity and respect in which they can grow into whole, happy adults. Unit 8 has the same goal; to protect and nurture the most vulnerable little members of our society. We can think of no one more deserving of our support. But, for us, and I suspect everyone else involved, #twitterxmassingle has gone way beyond just raising money for premature babies.
Following the progress of #twitterxmassingle has been such an exciting, happy, positive distraction from all the doom and gloom that pervades our airwaves and newspapers. It is a wonderful example of the generosity of the Irish; something which, during the years of the Celtic Tiger, was maybe somewhat lost. It is a timely reminder of the power of community spirit, that one individual can really make a difference and that it is in giving that we receive.
By the time the day of recording came around on 24th November, one short week after that first tweet, something incredible had happened. All sorts of people from all over the country came together in the Westin Hotel in Dublin to record the song. Some were there to give of their professional talent, others to just be a part of it all and to contribute in whatever way they could. At various stages in the process, there have been “big names” involved along with “nobodys” like me. Some have been out front and visible, others have worked away quietly in the background. Everything was done on a voluntary basis and for free. At no point has it ever been about an individual, but always about the cause. As someone once said: “It is amazing how much you can accomplish when it doesn’t matter who gets the credit. “
One more week later, on December 4th, everyone gathered back at the Westin for the launch of Winter Song. It is now available for download on iTunes. There is still work to be done and an opportunity to join in and do your bit. Download it, tell your friends and family, get onto twitter and facebook and help to promote it. How fantastic it would be if we could get it to number 1 for Christmas.
In the words of Walt Disney: “All our dreams can come true if we have the courage to pursue them.” Thank goodness @BrendaDrumm had that courage. The National Anti-Bullying Coalition is thrilled to have had the opportunity to play a tiny part in making this dream come true. We have been inspired to keep working towards the realisation of our own dream. As individuals, this experience has given us a huge lift and made Christmas 2011 one we will never forget. So thank you, Brenda, for your vision, passion and fantastic organisation skills, and thank you everyone who helped to make this happen. It was a privilege to be a part of it all.
To download Winter Song in Ireland, go to itunes. If you are in the US, you will find it here.
For some great photos, check out pix.ie
On what should have been Phoebe Prince’s 17th birthday last week, her father, Jeremy, travelled to Leinster House to speak in support of the National Anti-Bullying Coalition’s proposal for a National Safe School’s Programme.
Jeremy Prince speaks at Leinster House
“I don’t wish to talk about my daughter, but when you have been through an ordeal like we have, you get certain insights and one of those I would like very briefly to share with you.
After Phoebe died, given the immense level of publicity all around the world, we received letters by the hundreds and thousands and a very high proportion of those were from people who had themselves been bullied at school. Not just recently, but ten, twenty or thirty years ago. Talking about how it was affecting their whole lives, their educational opportunities; feelings of lack of self-confidence, lack of self-worth and isolation…These are exactly those feelings that lead young people to take their own lives.
So, bullying is not just an issue for schools. You have to think of it as a massive, massive social problem and, like an iceberg, the vast bulk of it is hidden below the surface. Because of what happened to us, we were quite horrified by how big the problem is and how many people’s lives have been blighted by it. So, I would like to ask everybody here to take the issue of bullying very seriously and help us to get something done to reduce it.”
It is hard to imagine the pain Phoebe’s family must endure on a daily basis. For her father to spend this day in particular, in the public spotlight to highlight the issue of bullying is an indication of great courage and selflessness. He said that, while it had been a difficult day, he felt he had done something very worthwhile to mark his daughter’s birthday.
The National Anti-Bullying Coalition (NABC) has designed a framework for a Safe Schools Programme based on evidence-based practice. In other countries, such as Finland, programmes such as this have been shown to dramatically and quickly reduce the incidence and effect of bullying.
Jeremy Prince and Monica Monahan
Monica Monahan, President of the NABC, says that “The blame approach to bullying is counter-productive. Too often the situation between schools and parents is one of “them and us”. In our current system, we tend to wait for bullying to occur before we try to deal with it. Our programme aims to strip back to educating children from a very young age as to what is appropriate behaviour and therefore, to change the culture in schools so that bullying behaviour is less likely to occur. Professor Mona O’Moore of the Anti-Bullying Centre in TCD believes that we have lost a generation to a culture of aggression. It is time to begin the process of change and to invest in our future.”
The presentation was warmly received by the many public representatives who attended and the NABC hope to meet with the Minister for Eduction, Ruairi Quinn, next January to outline their Programme to him. They feel that, along with a more cohesive, child-centred use of the current child protection and education agencies already in place, the implementation of this programme could save widespread suffering and could save lives. More importantly to some perhaps, it is an investment in our future which could also save money
Jeremy Prince, whose 17 year old daughter Phoebe tragically took her own life in Jan 2010, addressed TDs and Senators as part of a presentation by the National Anti-Bullying Coalition (NABC). He urged them to press for adoption of the ‘Safe School’ policy in all Irish schools as advocated by the NABC stating that what we see of the bullying problem is only “the tip of the iceberg.”
Gerald Nash TD, who had invited the NABC to Leinster House and chaired the meeting, said that Mr Prince was an inspirational figure and one could only stand in awe of his strength at being able to talk so openly about the horror he and his family had gone through.
“To see anyone who has suffered such pain respond in such a positive manner is quite remarkable. I’ve been involved with the NABC campaign for some months now and I wanted my colleagues from across all parties to get the opportunity to hear their message.”
“The proposals outlined today by Monica Monaghan (President of the NABC) could make an extraordinary difference to our schools for students, teachers and parents alike and those benefits would radiate out into society as a whole.”
“I’ve raised this already with the Minister for Education and I’ll continue to work with the NABC to try and tackle the problem of bullying as quickly and effectively as possible.”
Gerald Nash is the TD for Louth East Meath constituency. The NABC is immensely grateful for his support in bringing our message to Leinster House and, hopefully soon to the Minister for Education, Ruairi Quinn himself.
The National Anti-Bullying Coalition (NABC) has been invited to outline their Safe Schools Programme in Leinster House this Thursday, the day that Phoebe Prince should have celebrated her 17th birthday.
Phoebe’s father, Jeremy Prince, says “We know, to our cost, the price paid for a school with no proper anti-bullying policy”. Seeing it as the only way to escape her bullies at school, Phoebe took her own life on January 14th 2010. With the hope of protecting the lives of Irish children, Jeremy is joining with the NABC to highlight the urgency with which this issue must be addressed.
A recent Government report, Growing Up In Ireland, tells us that 40% of our nine year olds have been bullied in the past year. Part one of UNICEF Ireland’s study, Changing The Future: Experiencing Adolescence In Ireland, tells us that 55% of our teenagers experience bullying. We know, from international research, that a National Anti-Bullying Strategy using a Whole School Approach is the most effective way to deal with this pervasive problem. Part two of the UNICEF report paints a shocking picture of our young people’s mental health, with 50% experiencing depression and 26% considering suicide. A Safe Schools Programme, if implemented, could prevent untold suffering and save lives.
Monica Monahan, President of the NABC says “lives are being lost because of bullying behaviours in our schools. The implications of the growing problem of aggression in this country, teamed with our dire economic situation, will have far reaching effects on society”.
Ireland is home to a world-renowned Anti-Bullying Research and Resource Centre in Trinity College Dublin and yet we fall well short of best practice in this field. We do not have a coordinated, standards-based approach to the problem of bullying in schools, and no oversight or accountability of current practices. We have the knowledge, the expertise and the resources. We now need the political will to bring all these elements together in a cohesive and effective manner so thatwe can create safe school environments in which our children can flourish with dignity and respect.
The NABC was set up in March 2011 as a voluntary organisation by a group of individuals including parents, studentsand teachers concerned about the issue of bullying in schools. They bring together a wide range of qualifications, skills,knowledge and experience and a singular commitment to find a solution to the issue of bullying wherever it might arisein any whole school community. The solution they propose is a “Safe School” model involving all members of the school community.
__ENDS__
For further information, please contact: Monica Monahan, President, National Anti-Bullying Coalition Phone: 087 2694369 Email: nabcireland@gmail.com —
The latest practices in prevention and intervention in the area of school bullying were discussed by some of the worlds leading experts in the field at a conference hosted by the Anti-Bullying Research and Resource Centre in Trinity College Dublin last week. It is clear, based on findings from countries such as Australia, Norway and Finland, that the most effective way to tackle the problem of bullying in schools is to have a coordinated National Programme using a Whole School Approach.
The Trinity Anti-Bullying Centre is an internationally acclaimed centre of excellence, founded by Professor Mona O’Moore, one of the world’s leading experts in the field of bullying. With all this expertise to hand, Ireland therefore, should be well to the fore in terms of best practice in this area.
As regards a National Strategy, we have a set of Anti-Bullying Guidelines published by the Department of Education almost twenty years ago, in 1993. While every school must have an Anti-Bullying Policy, the content is entirely up to the authorities of the individual school and may or may not refer to these guidelines. The policy is often drawn up by the school management with little more than token input from other stakeholders in the school community such as students and parents. Training in the area of bullying is at the discretion of the school, so their policy and its implementation may or may not be based on a knowledge of best practice. Each school has an official complaints procedure, at the end of which, the final arbiter is the school’s Board of Management.
Almost every member of the NABC has been led to the organisation because the system has failed to protect them or their children. In the absence of clear strategies and tools, schools are often afraid to tackle bullying and prefer to hide from the problem for fear of creating the impression that they have a bullying problem, or of making mistakes and being sued. A lack of training can mean that school authorities have little understanding or a false understanding of the issue of bullying. Due to a lack of safe disclosure strategies, victims often find that reporting incidents of bullying may actually make their situation worse rather than better. It is not clear to the victims of bullying, what to do or how to proceed. Although some schools undoubtedly deal with bullying well, in the absence of clear standards and accountability, this is not the case everywhere. Situations are not always appropriately dealt with and bullying is allowed to continue even when reported.
All too often, after a period of suffering, bullied students are removed from schools or bullied teachers take early retirement while the bullies remain, ready to find another target. The psychological damage to victims can be devastating and life-long, but it should be remembered that the bullies themselves do not come out unscathed either. Dan Olweus found, in a Swedish study in 1993 that approximately 60% of boys who were described by teachers and peers as being bullies in school had at least one criminal conviction by the age of 24 and that 35% to 40% of them had three or more convictions by that age.
A recent national study, Growing Up In Ireland suggests that 40% of our nine year olds have experienced bullying in the past year. A study by Unicef Ireland earlier this year, suggested that more than half of our teenagers have been affected by bullying. We also know that teachers in Ireland are twice as likely as those in any other profession to be bullied. There are currently no safeguards for anyone and nowhere for anyone to turn for help and support when the process in their local school proves to be inadequate and ineffective.
The goal of the National Anti-Bullying Coalition is to change this so that schools become safe environments for all members of the community and places where our young people learn how to treat others with dignity and respect. We are not asking for anything unreasonable or unattainable. We are simply asking that best practice is observed.
This week will be Anti-Bullying Week across the UK. This year’s theme is “Stop and Think – Words Can Hurt”. It was chosen following the Anti-Bullying Alliance Youth Summit 2010 and reflects the concern that the use of negative language in schools and the wider community is a key indicator of bullying or a hostile environment.
How wonderful it would be to have a National Anti-Bullying Week in Ireland! It is something towards which the NABC is working. Meanwhile, it is worth visiting the UK Anti-Bullying Week website and availing of the many useful resources which they have made available for schools to use, this week or as part of any anti-bullying initiatives you may like to hold during the year.
