U.N., U.S., California should protect kids from bullying
Thirty years ago today, the United Nations’ Convention on the Rights of the Child established minimum standards for childhood health and well-being. That convention has become the most ratified human rights treaty in history.
It was the first time world leaders were unified in defining what a healthy childhood should look like. It gave protection from a range of adverse childhood experiences, such as abuse by parents and caregivers, and it required every nation to give its children a right to free primary education.
However, none of its 54 articles makes mention of bullying.
We need to fix this. Bullying — defined as the repeated abuse of power over others in order to hurt, humiliate or exclude them — is the most widespread form of violence to which children are exposed.
According to a UNESCO report published earlier this year, almost 1 in 3 children is bullied every month and in some countries the frequency is double (a staggering 60% to 70%). If bullying were a disease, leaders and parents would urgently be demanding that action be taken to address it.
The convention was made at a time when bullying was denied as a real problem or framed simply as a rite of passage. We now know better. Its effects are as varied and severe as child abuse. Bullying has very real long-term consequences on a young person’s health, job prospects and relationships.
Researchers at King’s College London found that children bullied at school were still experiencing negative effects on their physical and mental health more than 40 years later. In 2012, the Highmark Foundation issued a report estimating that
the lifetime cost to society of not preventing high school bullying averages $1.4 million for each adolescent who is bullying or being bullied.
The world’s children urgently need us to update the U.N. Convention on the Rights of Children
to include the right to a bully-free childhood. Such a step would generate real change across the world.
Human rights lawyers know that the power of universal declarations comes through their incorporation into national legal systems. At present, the United States has no federal requirements regarding bullying or cyberbullying; several bills have been tabled.
In 2012, California enacted Seth’s Law, which encourages school districts to invest in a system to prevent and respond to bullying but does not make it mandatory. The inclusion of bullying in the convention would add to the pressure on the Legislature to take action.
The good news is that if leaders act, it is relatively easy to eradicate much of the bullying to which children are exposed. It simply takes commitment at the national level and some basic training for schools on how to lead culture change and how to respond effectively when bullying is reported.
For instance, schools that implement a program in Finland have reduced the frequency of bullying to less than 12%. Research conducted by No Bully, a California based nonprofit, shows that teachers trained in their methodology are able to solve close to 90% of the incidents that still occur.
The future of the world belongs to our children and we owe it to them to send them into that future as whole and healthy as possible. We can begin by updating the U.N. convention to make a bully-free childhood a universal human right.