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Summary: A Europe-wide campaign to establish a European Anti-bullying Day was launched by the Greek NGO, “The Smile of the Child” and 16 more organizations across 12 EU Member States which are calling on the EU for the establishment of a European day against bullying. PRESS RELEASE Athens, October 1, 2013 - Europe-wide Campaign to establish a European Anti-bullying Day launched 17 organizations across 12 Member States stand strong against bullying Civil society in Europe has to unite efforts to tackle bullying. This was the strong message echoed in Palermo by 17 European organizations calling for the establishment of a European Anti-bullying Day. Across Europe hundreds of thousands of children are experiencing bullying every day. The bullying phenomenon not only persists, but grows in extent with damaging consequences not only on children and families, but ultimately on European societies as a whole. The Greek NGO “The Smile of the Child” implements in partnership with important European organizations the project “EAN - European Anti-bullying Network”. EAN is a project funded by Daphne III programme of the European Commission and aims at the establishment of a European Anti-bullying Network. As an integral part of this project, EAN’s partnership scheme launched at a public event in Palermo, on 24 September, the campaign “Making One Day in Europe, every Day for children”. This campaign will be implemented at EU and national level by active organizations in the field of bullying from 12 EU Member States: Bulgaria, Estonia, Greece, Germany, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Romania, Spain, Sweden and UK. Aim of the campaign is to mobilize civil society and citizens against bullying and to call on the EU to establish a European Anti-bullying Day. “Today’s message from Palermo is that we will succeed against bullying only if we all join forces” said during this event the Chairman of “The Smile of the Child” and Board Member of MCE (Missing Children Europe), Costas Yannopoulos, adding that EAN project represents a strong partnership that needs to grow across all European countries. This campaign seizes the unique momentum created earlier this year with the adoption of a Written Declaration by the European Parliament calling on the Commission to support the establishment of a European Anti-bullying Day and Member States to take the appropriate measures to protect children. This initiative met the full support of the European Commissioner for Digital Agenda, Neelie Kroes, and the Commissioner for Education, Culture, Multilingualism and Youth, Androulla Vassiliou. “14-year-old Hannah from the UK, 15-year-old Bart from Poland and a 14-year-old boy in Rome are not back to school this September” said MEP Georgios Koumoutsakos on the initiative of whom the EP adopted this Declaration, highlighting that one official day will act as a catalyst to tackle the growing problem of bullying in Europe. During the launch we heard testimonies of students and teachers from Italy working in anti-bullying projects at schools, while good practices against bullying were also presented by Assistant Professor and President of MED (Italian Association for Media Education), Gianna Cappello. The panel discussion was followed by the official launch of the campaign. Participants had the opportunity to watch the TV spot of this campaign and were invited to join this effort and publicly express their support by signing a public statement. Follow the campaign on EAN’s website at www.antibullying.eu Additional Information The European Anti-bullying Day Campaign - The campaign pack launched includes posters, leaflets, banners, TV spots and public events in different European cities. Through awareness-raising on bullying and its consequences this campaign aims at the establishment of a European Anti-bulling Day as one day of reflection on anti-bullying initiatives and future actions.
The campaign will raise awareness on bullying and invites NGOs, various stakeholders, organizations, civil society and citizens to support this effort by signing a public statement.
Follow this campaign at www.antibullying.eu