THE CONCEPT OF BULLYING
Bullying is a rather unpleasant phenomenon that can manifest itself in various forms. The most common forms of such bullying nowadays are bullying in the information space – through phones and social networks.
On January 19, 2019, the Law of Ukraine dated December 18, 2019 No. 2657-VIII “On Amendments to Certain Legislative Acts of Ukraine on Combating Bullying” entered into force.
Thus, the Law of Ukraine “On Education” was supplemented with a clause that stipulates that bullying (harassment) is an act (action or inaction) of participants in the educational process, which consists of psychological, physical, economic, sexual violence, including with the use of means electronic communications made in relation to a minor or a minor and (or) by such a person in relation to other participants in the educational process, as a result of which damage to the victim’s mental or physical health could be or has been caused.
For bullying to take place, the following signs are necessary:
- must be intentional – harm to another person must be intentional
- is not one-time – it is systematic and repeated
- can happen anywhere, in person or online (cyberbullying), at any time and cause physical or mental harm
- can be overt or covert.
Bullying is a term that is often used to describe behavior that doesn’t really fall under it—it doesn’t include all verbal or physical aggression.
For example: a one-time fight or quarrel; dislike for someone or one-time acts of aggression; use of sexist or racist terms that is not intended to cause harm. These other behaviors are also serious and can be upsetting, but may need to be dealt with differently.
RESPONSIBILITY FOR BULLYING
Bullying is subject to civil, administrative or criminal liability. In most cases, a person will bear administrative responsibility for such an act (entails the imposition of a fine of fifty to one hundred tax-free minimum incomes of citizens or community service for a period of twenty to forty hours). Civil liability will consist in ensuring protection of honor and dignity and in compensation for moral damage.
Sometimes bullying is a criminal offence, and a person is criminally liable for committing it. Categories of offenses related to bullying include assault, defamation, dissemination of information that violates personal privacy, and threats.
Sanctions provided for the above-mentioned criminal offenses in accordance with the Criminal Code of Ukraine will be applied to the offender upon reaching the age of 16, in the event that there are signs of the corresponding crime in his actions. In some cases, where particularly cruel treatment takes place, criminal liability may arise from the age of 14.
In some cases, the result of bullying can be a person’s suicide or an attempt to commit such an act. Then the person who committed the bullying may be held criminally liable under Art. 120 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine (criminal responsibility will be imposed from the age of 16; coercive measures of an educational nature will be applied to offenders aged 11 to 16):
- Bringing a person to suicide or attempted suicide, which is the result of cruel treatment of him, blackmail, systematic humiliation of his human dignity or systematic illegal coercion to act against his will, inclination to commit suicide, as well as other actions that contribute to committing suicide are punished by restriction of liberty for a term of up to three years or deprivation of liberty for the same term (Part 1 of Article 120 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine);
- The same act committed against a person who was financially or otherwise dependent on the accused, or against two or more persons, is punishable by restriction of liberty for a term of up to five years or deprivation of liberty for the same term (Part 2 of Article 120 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine );
- The act provided for by parts one or two of this article, if it was committed against a minor, is punishable by imprisonment for a term of seven to ten years (Part 3, Article 120 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine).
As you can see, the problem of bullying is quite urgent and it needs countermeasures. They were partially developed in the Law of Ukraine dated December 18, 2019 No. 2657-VIII “On Amendments to Certain Legislative Acts of Ukraine on Combating Bullying”, which includes a set of various measures. For example, the heads of educational institutions have an obligation to notify the National Police about the facts of bullying, in case of non-notification, administrative responsibility is provided.
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