Skip to content or view mobile version

Home | Mobile | Editorial | Mission | Privacy | About | Contact | Help | Security | Support

A network of individuals, independent and alternative media activists and organisations, offering grassroots, non-corporate, non-commercial coverage of important social and political issues.

Hidden Article

This posting has been hidden because it breaches the Indymedia UK (IMC UK) Editorial Guidelines.

IMC UK is an interactive site offering inclusive participation. All postings to the open publishing newswire are the responsibility of the individual authors and not of IMC UK. Although IMC UK volunteers attempt to ensure accuracy of the newswire, they take no responsibility legal or otherwise for the contents of the open publishing site. Mention of external web sites or services is for information purposes only and constitutes neither an endorsement nor a recommendation.

Combating Bullying International Day In Support of Victims of Torture

Chad Andro | 17.07.2010 15:22 | Social Struggles

The United Nations’ International Day in Support of Victims of Torture is annually observed to remind people that human torture is unacceptable – and in many cases it is also a crime. On this day attention mostly goes to victims of war, prison and violent crimes, in countries of unrest predominately known for human rights violations. Youth for Human Rights Florida President Dustin McGahee points out that bullying is a form of torture here in the United States and across the globe, and a violation of Human Right #5, No Torture.

In England, a child is a victim of a violent attack every 20 seconds, with official statistics showing 1,719,000 under-16s were assaulted last year. Youth are three times more likely to be victims of violence than adults - and most of the attacks are perpetrated by other youth. Statistics exposed the fact that nearly one in four youth were a victim last year, and total offences against children topped the two million mark.

This generation of youth has varied ways to mentally torture someone they might consider an enemy. Eight out of 10 children in India have been through negative online experiences that include cyber-bullying or online harassment, and only 50 percent of the parents know what their children go through, according to a recent survey in India.

Although many states in the US have anti-bullying laws, the bullying trend has not slowed down. One middle school boy was set on fire by kids at school. A girl was savagely beaten into a medically induced comma. Another one hanged herself after being continually harassed. And while death is the extreme result, acts of bullying happen daily. Today, an estimated 90 percent of fourth through eighth-graders report being victims of bullying, according to the US Bureau of Justice. And although not as violent as the older youth, the lower grades reported being in twice as many fights as those in the higher grades, according to a Gallup Poll.

“The United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights was written as a solution to World War II, where intolerance and discrimination led to millions dying,” explains nineteen-year old Youth for Human Rights Florida President, Dustin McGahee. “Making laws doesn’t stop an elementary school student from terrorizing his school mate. As young children and young adults, we need to learn and understand the value of human rights, which means our own human rights and others human rights. We need to create a learning environment of tolerance more than we need Geometry.”

Youth for Human Rights Florida is a secular non-profit organization with the mission to educate about the Human Rights both in and out of the classroom. The uniqueness of the program lies in the educational materials created in collaboration with the Human Rights Department of the Church of Scientology International. Its founder L. Ron Hubbard in fact stated: “Human rights must be made a fact, not an idealistic dream”. Their educational materials include youth-designed video of the 30 Human Rights according to the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights, along with a documentary, “The Story of Human Rights”, booklets and an educator’s guide.

For more information go to: www.youthforhumanrights.org

Chad Andro

Upcoming Coverage
View and post events
Upcoming Events UK
24th October, London: 2015 London Anarchist Bookfair
2nd - 8th November: Wrexham, Wales, UK & Everywhere: Week of Action Against the North Wales Prison & the Prison Industrial Complex. Cymraeg: Wythnos o Weithredu yn Erbyn Carchar Gogledd Cymru

Ongoing UK
Every Tuesday 6pm-8pm, Yorkshire: Demo/vigil at NSA/NRO Menwith Hill US Spy Base More info: CAAB.

Every Tuesday, UK & worldwide: Counter Terror Tuesdays. Call the US Embassy nearest to you to protest Obama's Terror Tuesdays. More info here

Every day, London: Vigil for Julian Assange outside Ecuadorian Embassy

Parliament Sq Protest: see topic page
Ongoing Global
Rossport, Ireland: see topic page
Israel-Palestine: Israel Indymedia | Palestine Indymedia
Oaxaca: Chiapas Indymedia
Regions
All Regions
Birmingham
Cambridge
Liverpool
London
Oxford
Sheffield
South Coast
Wales
World
Other Local IMCs
Bristol/South West
Nottingham
Scotland
Social Media
You can follow @ukindymedia on indy.im and Twitter. We are working on a Twitter policy. We do not use Facebook, and advise you not to either.
Support Us
We need help paying the bills for hosting this site, please consider supporting us financially.
Other Media Projects
Schnews
Dissident Island Radio
Corporate Watch
Media Lens
VisionOnTV
Earth First! Action Update
Earth First! Action Reports
Topics
All Topics
Afghanistan
Analysis
Animal Liberation
Anti-Nuclear
Anti-militarism
Anti-racism
Bio-technology
Climate Chaos
Culture
Ecology
Education
Energy Crisis
Fracking
Free Spaces
Gender
Globalisation
Health
History
Indymedia
Iraq
Migration
Ocean Defence
Other Press
Palestine
Policing
Public sector cuts
Repression
Social Struggles
Technology
Terror War
Workers' Movements
Zapatista
Major Reports
NATO 2014
G8 2013
Workfare
2011 Census Resistance
Occupy Everywhere
August Riots
Dale Farm
J30 Strike
Flotilla to Gaza
Mayday 2010
Tar Sands
G20 London Summit
University Occupations for Gaza
Guantanamo
Indymedia Server Seizure
COP15 Climate Summit 2009
Carmel Agrexco
G8 Japan 2008
SHAC
Stop Sequani
Stop RWB
Climate Camp 2008
Oaxaca Uprising
Rossport Solidarity
Smash EDO
SOCPA
Past Major Reports
Encrypted Page
You are viewing this page using an encrypted connection. If you bookmark this page or send its address in an email you might want to use the un-encrypted address of this page.
If you recieved a warning about an untrusted root certificate please install the CAcert root certificate, for more information see the security page.

Global IMC Network


www.indymedia.org

Projects
print
radio
satellite tv
video

Africa

Europe
antwerpen
armenia
athens
austria
barcelona
belarus
belgium
belgrade
brussels
bulgaria
calabria
croatia
cyprus
emilia-romagna
estrecho / madiaq
galiza
germany
grenoble
hungary
ireland
istanbul
italy
la plana
liege
liguria
lille
linksunten
lombardia
madrid
malta
marseille
nantes
napoli
netherlands
northern england
nottingham imc
paris/île-de-france
patras
piemonte
poland
portugal
roma
romania
russia
sardegna
scotland
sverige
switzerland
torun
toscana
ukraine
united kingdom
valencia

Latin America
argentina
bolivia
chiapas
chile
chile sur
cmi brasil
cmi sucre
colombia
ecuador
mexico
peru
puerto rico
qollasuyu
rosario
santiago
tijuana
uruguay
valparaiso
venezuela

Oceania
aotearoa
brisbane
burma
darwin
jakarta
manila
melbourne
perth
qc
sydney

South Asia
india


United States
arizona
arkansas
asheville
atlanta
Austin
binghamton
boston
buffalo
chicago
cleveland
colorado
columbus
dc
hawaii
houston
hudson mohawk
kansas city
la
madison
maine
miami
michigan
milwaukee
minneapolis/st. paul
new hampshire
new jersey
new mexico
new orleans
north carolina
north texas
nyc
oklahoma
philadelphia
pittsburgh
portland
richmond
rochester
rogue valley
saint louis
san diego
san francisco
san francisco bay area
santa barbara
santa cruz, ca
sarasota
seattle
tampa bay
united states
urbana-champaign
vermont
western mass
worcester

West Asia
Armenia
Beirut
Israel
Palestine

Topics
biotech

Process
fbi/legal updates
mailing lists
process & imc docs
tech