Bullying huge problem, says Unicef
Belgium scores a low 21st in a ranking of 28 countries for fighting and bullying at school, a UN report revealed last week. The study by the UN children’s agency Unicef looked at 28 countries of the OECD and ranked them best to worst for children’s well-being on a variety of criteria. Belgium was worse for bullying than all but six countries, including Portugal , Estonia and Lithuania. For fighting it did slightly better, ahead of seven countries, including Slovenia, Romania and Spain.
The so-called Innocenti Report Card measures children’s wellbeing on issues including health, housing, safety, education and socio-economic circumstances. Belgium’s overall ranking was ninth, with excellent results for education, from pre-school places to higher education opportunities.
According to the chair of the Flemish anti-bullying network Kies kleur tegen pesten (Take Sides Against Bullying), the report is not a revelation. “Research has previously shown that bullying is a major problem in this country,” said spokesperson Gie Deboutte.
“Other countries have been more successful in getting a handle on the problem.” Governments in Finland, the Netherlands and Ireland “invest in a structural approach, which is what we are lacking. That is a shame because we know that bullying figures correlate with the high youth suicide figures in this country.”
www.unicef.org
