Study on Bullying and Violence on Campus from a Human Rights Perspective BU Wei* Abstract: “Campus Bullying” is essentially a form of violence against children and adolescents, but neglected for a long time because it occurred among these groups. This paper proposes to re-examine the nature of campus bullying and relevant prevention and intervention activities in a human rights framework. The author points out that bullying among children and adolescents, if without intervention, will become a socialization process through which children learn violent and unequal ideology. In conclusion, the paper makes suggestions on the prevention from and intervention in campus bulling from a human rights perspective. I. Introduction However, we notice that the violence among teenagers exposed by media is only a tip of the iceberg. Based on the baseline investigation and experience from the pilot project in the prevention and intervention of violence among children and adolescents, as well as this year’s retrospective study on the subject, we find out that more than half of teenagers have suffered violence of one or more forms, including physical violence, mental abuse, sexual abuse and humiliation. The places where they live such as home, school or neighborhood, are all potential violence scenes. Violence may come from adults (including parents and educators) or peer teenagers.1 Among all forms of violence, campus bullying is one that teenagers are most often exposed to, with both genders being potential bullies or victims. Office of the State Council’s educational supervision commission has issued the Notice on the Special Rectification of Campus Bullying, drawing public attention. The emphasis on addressing the issue of campus bullying at a national level provides an important opportunity for the prevention and intervention of campus violence including bullying. It is in this context that this article tries to study the nature of campus bullying and its harm from the perspective of human rights, especially the protection of children’s rights, and propose relevant suggestions. II. Human Rights System on Children Abuse In 1992, the Chinese government approved the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC), which promised and planned to execute relevant measures to protect the rights of children and adolescents. A child is an independent person with personal dignity, and is born with rights to subsistence, develop, protection, and participation. The right to be protected means that every child has right to be safe from discrimination, maltreatment or neglect. Article 19 of CRC stipulates that: “States Parties shall take all appropriate legislative, administrative, social and educational measures to protect the child from all forms of physical or mental violence, injury or abuse, neglect or negligent treatment, maltreatment or exploitation, including sexual abuse, while in the care of parent(s), legal guardian(s) or any other person who has the care of the child.” Article 37 points out that “No child shall be subjected to torture or other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment.” Such protective measures should, as appropriate, include effective procedures for the establishment of social programmes to provide children with necessary support and for those who take care of children, as well as for other forms of prevention and identification, reporting, referral, investigation, treatment and follow-up child maltreatment mentioned heretofore, and for a timely judicial involvement. In 2011, the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child issued General Comment No. 13: The Right Of the Child to Freedom from All Forms of Violence. Together with the CRC, the General Comment constitute the framework of human rights against violence on children and adolescents. The main points are as follows: 1. No violence against children is justifiable; all violence against children is preventable; 2. A child rights-based approach to child caregiving and protection requires a paradigm shift towards respecting and promoting the human dignity and the physical and psychological integrity of children as rights-bearing individuals rather than perceiving them primarily as “victims”. The principle of the rule of law should apply fully to children as it does to adults; Children’s rights to be heard and to have their views given due weight must be respected systematically in all decision-making processes, and their empowerment and participation should be central to child caregiving and protection strategies and programmes; 3. The concept of dignity requires that every child is recognized, respected and protected as a rights holder and as a unique and valuable human being with an individual personality, distinct needs, interests and privacy; 4. States’ obligations and the responsibilities of family and other actors. References to “State parties” relate to the obligations of State parties to assume their responsibilities towards children not only at the national level, but also at the provincial and municipal levels. These special obligations are due diligence and the obligation to prevent violence or violations of human rights, the obligation to protect child victims and witnesses from human rights violations, the obligation to investigate and to punish those responsible, and the obligation to provide access to redress human rights violations. State parties, furthermore, shall ensure that all persons who, within the context of their work, are responsible for the prevention of, protection from, and reaction to violence and in the justice systems are addressing the needs and respecting the rights of children. 5. It is important that State parties disseminate information and knowledge on the prevention and intervention of campus bullying. The Committee recommends that State parties widely disseminate the present general comment within government and administrative structures, to parents, other caregivers, children, professional organizations, communities and civil society at large. All channels of dissemination, including print media, the Internet and children’s own communication means, should be used. This will necessitate translating it into relevant languages, including sign languages, Braille and easy-to-read formats for children with disabilities. It also requires making culturally appropriate and child-friendly versions available, holding workshops and seminars, implementing age- and disability-specific support to discuss its implications and how best to implement it, and incorporating it into the training of all professionals working for and with children. The series of assumptions and ideas have shown that the nations and the public cannot tolerate any kind of violence aimed at children and adolescents: any kind of violence is groundless and should be forbidden, and at the same time preventative. The prevention of campus violence not only involves legal and moral education for children, but also means a “paradigm shift” among the whole society. That is to say, education on human rights should permeate the society, in which each person, including his dignity and body as well as human rights, is respected. In the process of prevention and intervention of campus violence, the role of adolescents should be given full play, encouraging their participation in cutting off the intergenerational transmission of violence. III. Understanding the Nature and Harm of Campus Bullying From the Perspective of Human Rights The frequent occurrence of campus bullying reveals that children and adolescents and their contacted adults lack awareness of violence. Not being stopped immediately, campus bullying becomes a “natural” phenomenon, and then an acceptable and strong social behavior. Without timely intervention, violence will be spread across the campus and even the society. If violence becomes the only effective means to address the conflicts among the youngsters, a harmonious and equal society will be empty talk and security and human rights of the people will not be protected. Therefore, it is necessary for us to intervene and rectify the abovementioned problems via positive and effective education and initiatives, so as to remove the violence targeted at children and adolescents. IV. Prevention and Intervention of Violence against Children 1. Education on human rights. 2. To deal with campus bullying under the framework of human rights is not a sole project dedicated to the handling of one case, and not a responsibility assumed merely by school. We should also enhance the prevention and intervention of violence in our education system, mainly in school. Schools ought to be a place beneficial to security and development of each child, where the ability of teachers to address violence should be enhanced and resources should be provided. The prevention and intervention of violence in school also includes the education on living skills of all the students. For example, students will learn how to identify a bad intention, how to protect themselves and how to handle conflicts with their schoolmates and friends. The prevention and intervention of violence in community where children and adolescents live is also important. We should improve the ability of community organizations such as neighborhood community, public security, legal aid and hospitals to address violence against children and establish an anti-violence reaction mechanism. The main tasks of communities include building a “secure tunnel” of children to and from school, participating in other community activities; improving the surroundings of the school; helping curb the gangs and cliques and their bully behaviors; providing training for health workers to identify adults or children with a tendency of violence; maintaining public security of community; improving emergency treatment, trauma care and access to treatment; changing attitude of community residents towards violence through publicity campaigns, etc. In the prevention and intervention of violence, schools and communities can support children and adolescents by establishing social capital for the purpose of reducing their vulnerability. The available social resources for children and adolescents include aid systems such as violence reporting mechanism, emergency aid system, board and lodging, economic grant or insurance assistance system, care center for abused children, medical aid system, mental health aid system, organization for parents’ education, training centers for teachers, supporting group for children and adolescents, and home visit system for addressing home crisis. Furthermore, social capital will be used to increase confidence and ability of children and adolescents in addressing violence. 3. As General Comment No. 13 noted, children and adolescents will be incorporated in the plan or program of prevention and intervention against violence. 4. From experience in eliminating domestic violence, we can draw the conclusion that mass media can play an important role in advocating the elimination of violence. It should be noted that China has made progress in the prevention and intervention in violence targeted at children and adolescents. In 2004, the Chinese government took part in the global study on how to eliminate violence against children carried out by UN Committee on the Rights of the Child and held a national-level counselor meeting. With the assistance of the UNICEF, institutions including the All-China Women’s Federation developed some models around how to prevent and intervene in violence from their experience in fighting against child abuse from 2005 to 2010. These models include domestic intervention, community intervention, and campus intervention. By drawing essence from these experience, we should redefine the campus bullying under the framework of human rights, raise everyone’s consciousness of children’s rights, and take actions until violence against children and adolescents are completely eliminated. * BU Wei, director of the Research Center for Media Communication and Adolescent Development under the CASS Institute of Media research and a council member of China Society for Human Rights Studies. |
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Study on Bullying and Violence on Campus from a Human Rights Perspective
May 03,2017 By:CSHRS


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