Anti-bullying campaign launched in Dubai

Jamil Khan, Senior Reporter

A study involving 700 parents in all seven emirates has shown that around 85 per cent of parents with children aged 6-12 years are aware their child has been bullied previously.

The study was conducted by Cartoon Network Middle East and launched a UAE-wide anti-bullying campaign ‘CN Buddy Network,’ encouraging children aged 5 to 12 years to ‘Be a Buddy, Not a Bully.’

The global campaign was introduced in 2014 in the UK, and is being launched in the Middle East for the first time, starting with the UAE given that bullying continues to be a cause for concern across the region. To address this, the CN Buddy Network campaign will educate children and parents about the effects of bullying, and provide practical ways to counter it. The campaign was launched at a press conference held in Dubai.

To understand the issue further, Cartoon Network conducted a study with Opinion Matters, which showed that half of parents with children aged 6-12 years surveyed in the UAE are aware that their child had been bullied previously. Furthermore, 17 per cent of parents of children aged 6-12 years agree psychological bullying, verbal bullying and cyber bullying are the most common forms of bullying they observe amongst children aged 6-12. On a positive note, under 2 in 3 respondents in the UAE are confident that their children’s school is doing everything it can to address and prevent bullying (65per cent).

To raise awareness about the issue, the ‘CN Buddy Network’ campaign is running tailored school workshops by specialised child psychologists that aim to create a positive school culture and help prevent bullying among students. The workshops will continue until December 2019, and will target over1000 students. Anti-bullying school kits will be distributed to students,including various games and tools to engage them in anti-bullying activities during the workshops. A Buddy Network website - https://beabuddy.cartoonnetworkmena.com/ - has also been developed which includes helpful information and advice for parents and kids to counter bullying.