Bullying is a form of aggressive and harassing behaviour. This antisocial behaviour occurs across geographic, racial, and socioeconomic segments of society. Bullying prevents its targets from enjoying a safe, stress-free living, learning, and working environment.

A bully is someone who intentionally and repeatedly inflicts psychological or physical damage on other, less-powerful people in order to inflate their own sense of self-worth.

Examples:

• Teasing to hurt someone
• Trying to frighten or control someone
• Intimidating someone to do something that they do not want to do

Why the situation occurs?

Bullying often masks a deeper underlying problem. Some people bully others when they are angry - they then take out their anger on others around them. Some people who bully may have been hurt or teased by others and they then pass this behaviour on. Another explanation is that the bully is looking for attention and does not know how to interact socially or play in appropriate ways.
Often the person who is the bully feels unwanted, unloved and insecure. Those who hurt others through words and actions may feel good about making another person feel bad. They may feel powerful for a short time when he teases or hurts someone else, but later may feel guilty or ashamed of what they did and could justify this behaviour by thinking that the other person deserved it. Peer pressure adds to bullying. A group may build up around the bully and intensify the problem.

How you can make a difference?

Tackle the issue - learn about the issue and learn how to recognise the signs. Recognise when someone is bullying or being bullied. Learn mediation skills, assertiveness, to think about others and their feelings, to support those who are being bullied.

Use the materials and tools provided to follow the process of:

1. Identifying the problem
2. Developing Awareness and Empathy
3. Taking action
4. Measuring the change

Resources and Links:

A website produced by Telecom and the New Zealand police containing information for adults and young people on how to stop bullying:
http://www.police.govt.nz/service/yes/nobully

An anti-bullying network developed by the University of Edinburgh, United Kingdom, for adults and young people to share ideas about how bullying should be handled:
http://www.antibullying.net

An article from the Boy Scouts of America Scouting Magazine (March-April 2002) on bullying:
http://www.scoutingmagazine.org/issues/0203/d-famt.html

The Anti-Bullying Policy of The Scout Association (UK) and tools:
http://scouts.org.uk/bullying

World Scout Conference Resolution 16/90 on the Convention of the Rights of the Child
World Scout Conference Resolution 7/02 - Keeping Scouts safe from harm
Conference Resolutions