U-Report highlights prevalence of cyberbullying and its impact on young people
One in three young people in 30 countries said they have been a victim of online bullying, with one in five reporting having skipped school due to cyberbullying and violence, in a new poll released today by UNICEF and the UN Special Representative of the Secretary-General (SRSG) on Violence against Children.
Speaking out anonymously through the youth engagement
tool U-Report, almost three-quarters of young people also said social
networks, including Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat and Twitter, are the most
common place for online bullying.
“Connected classrooms mean school no longer ends
once a student leaves class, and, unfortunately, neither does schoolyard
bullying,” said UNICEF Executive Director Henrietta Fore. “Improving young
people’s education experience means accounting for the environment they
encounter online as well as offline.”
Through the poll, young people were asked via SMS and instant messaging
technology a series of questions relating to their experiences of online
bullying and violence, where it most frequently happens, and who they think is
responsible for ending it. Some 32 per cent of those polled believe governments
should be responsible for ending cyberbullying, 31 per cent said young people
and 29 per cent said internet companies.
“One of the key messages that we can clearly see from their opinions is
the need for children and young people involvement and partnering: When asked
who should be responsible for ending cyberbullying, the opinions were equally
divided between governments, internet service providers (private sector) and
young people themselves,” said Najat Maalla Mjid, UN Special
Representative of the Secretary-General (SRSG) on Violence against Children. “We are in this together and
we must share the responsibility in partnership.”
More than 170,000 U-Reporters aged 13-24 years old participated in the
poll including young people from Albania, Bangladesh, Belize, Bolivia, Brazil,
Burkina Faso, Côte d’Ivoire, Ecuador, France, Gambia, Ghana, India, Indonesia, Iraq,
Jamaica, Kosovo, Liberia, Malawi, Malaysia, Mali, Moldova, Montenegro, Myanmar,
Nigeria, Romania, Sierra Leone, Trinidad & Tobago, Ukraine, Vietnam and Zimbabwe.
The poll results challenge the notion that cyberbullying among
classmates is a uniquely high-income issue. For example, 34 per cent of
respondents in sub-Saharan Africa said they had been a victim of online
bullying. Some 39 per cent said they knew about private online groups inside
the school community where children share information about peers for the
purpose of bullying.
As part of UNICEF’s campaign to #ENDviolence in and around schools, children and young people from around the world drafted an #ENDviolence Youth
Manifesto in 2018, calling on governments, teachers, parents and each other to help end
violence and ensure students feel safe
in and around school – including
calling for protection online.
“All over the world, young
people– in both high and low-income countries – are telling us that they are
being bullied online, that it is affecting their education, and that they want
it to stop,” said Fore.
“As we mark the 30th anniversary of the Convention
on the Rights of the Child, we must ensure children’s rights are at the forefront
of digital safety and protection policies.”
To end online bullying and violence in and around
schools, UNICEF and partners are calling for urgent action from all sectors in
the following areas:
- Implementation of policies to protect children and young people from
cyberbullying and bullying.
- Establishment and equipment of national helplines to support children and
young people.
- Advancement of ethical standards and practices of social network
providers specifically in regards to the collection, information and management
of data.
- Collection of better, disaggregated evidence about children and young
people’s online behaviour to inform policy and guidance.
- Training for teachers and parents to prevent and respond to cyberbullying
and bullying, particularly for vulnerable groups.
Online version of the Press Release:
UNICEF poll: More than a third of young people in 30
countries report being a victim of online bullying
In Uganda, a separate poll was conducted on August 30, 2019 among 4,057
U-Reporters aged 15-24 years old across the country, and 40 per cent said they
have been victims of online violence/cyber bullying. 61 per cent also said that
online abuse between young people happens mostly on social networks, especially
through Facebook.
The Ugandan U-Reporters noted that if they become victims of cyber
bullying, they would report to Police, Child Helpline Call Centre – Sauti 116,
U-Report 8500, Uganda Communications Commission, political leaders, Uganda
Human Rights Commission, counsellors, elders, UNICEF, Courts of Law, parents,
teachers, head teachers, class teacher, school disciplinary committee among
others.
To end online bullying and violence in Uganda,
U-reporters are recommending the setting up and implementation of strict laws
on online bullying, use of social media and internet; sensitizing and creating
awareness on the use of social media and the dangers of online bullying.
UNICEF works around the world to end violence in
and around schools. These efforts include the organization’s #ENDviolence
campaign and Safe to Learn — a partnership between UNICEF, the United Kingdom’s Department for
International Development (DFID), UNESCO, other members of the Global
Partnership to End Violence Against Children, and UNGEI.
This month, as
many children head back to school, and in response to UNICEF’s #ENDviolence Youth Manifesto, UNICEF is calling on
parents to help prevent and #ENDviolence. Learn more here.
The SRSG on Violence against
Children is a global independent advocate for the prevention and elimination of
all forms of violence against children and ensuring follow-up to the
recommendations of the UN Secretary-General’s Study on Violence against
Children. The SRSG acts as a bridge builder and a catalyst of actions in all
region, and across sectors and settings where violence against children may
occur. The SRSG mobilizes action and political support to maintain momentum
around this agenda, promote the implementation of the 2030 Agenda for
Sustainable Development.
About U-Report
U-Report is a free social
messaging tool that allows anyone from anywhere in the world to speak out on
the issues they care about. UNICEF and partners developed the platform to
capture a range of voices on critical development issues. U-Report encourages
citizen-led development, facilitates responses to humanitarian emergencies and
magnifies local voices globally to create positive change.
Adolescent and young people can
join the platform by SMS or on social media (Facebook, Whatsapp or Viber)
allowing them to respond to polls, report concerns, support child rights and
work to improve their communities. Currently, there are more than 7 million
U-Reporters are present in over 60 countries.
This poll
was made possible by the many thousands of children and young people around the
world who actively engaged with UNICEF as U-Reporters and participated in the
poll. The poll was conducted in June 2019 and answered by more than 170,000
respondents in 30 countries.