The first anti-bullying campaign in Romania takes shape

“Telefonul Copilului” Association and Petrom partnered up for a special campaign to promote awareness about the negative effects of bullying on children. The project called “Bullying – from verbal to physical harassment among children” draws attention to the fact that bullying exists and it has to be prevented.

It is the first campaign of its kind in Romania, financed through Petrom’s “Tara lui Andrei” competition.

An educational package will be developed with the help of child psychologists. The package will be distributed by members of the NGO in 20 Bucharest schools over the next give months.

The project initiators explain that bullying can imply verbal or non-verbal violence, emotional abuse, exclusion and physical abuse. All these actions have a negative effect on the child’s physical and mental well being and can even lead to self-abuse, educational abandon and suicide. Furthermore, “Telefonul Copilului” received 2,907 phone calls regarding bullying in Romania between October 2011 and October 2013:

– 45.27 percent of calls were made in regards to physical bullying:

– 22.86 percent – verbal bullying;

– 15.24 percent – emotional bullying;

– 14.28 percent – relational bullying;

– 1.9 percent – online bullying.

“Children can be affected in the long term by exclusion and humiliation, both constituting heavy psychological blows. They can lead to lost of confidence, introversion, alienation, fear, depression, anxiety, anger and even revenge. The moment we realized we need this project was when the first child who attempted suicide, or abandoned school called the 116 111 number, after being bullied. So, the consequences are dramatic and what is more dramatic is that nobody is talking about it. Romanian authorities do not want to address the phenomenon, while in other countries the “bullying” phenomenon is among the most important topics in the field of child protection. We want to thank Petrom for giving the children a voice in Tara lui Andrei and offering us the opportunity to sound the alarm and find the best ways to tackle this phenomenon”, said Catalina Florea, Executive Director for “Telefonul Copilului” and Deputy Regional Representative Europe, Child Helpline International.