From 4th to 6th June, close to 1,000 participants descended on Dublin City University’s Glasnevin campus to attend the World Anti-Bullying Forum. The three-day event was organised by the National Anti-Bullying Research and Resource Centre at DCU, in partnership with FRIENDS, International Bullying Prevention Association and UNESCO, with support from Dublin City Council and Vodafone.
It was the largest ever gathering of experts, educators and policy-makers who discussed topics such as bullying, cyberbullying and online safety with the aim of broadening the understanding of bullying, harassment, discrimination, ostracism and other forms of degrading treatment and violence among children and youth in order to spread knowledge to practitioners, researchers and decision-makers.
The global event boasted an impressive range of speakers that included Charlotte Petri Gornitzka, UNICEF Deputy Executive Director, Partnerships; Antigone Davis, Global Head of Safety, Facebook Instagram; Anna Maria Corazza Bildt, EU Parliament Coordinator for Children’s Rights and Mary Mitchell O’Connor TD, Minister of State.
Thanks to support from Vodafone, attendees also enjoyed a lively discussion on the topic of healthy online behaviour with contributions from leading figures in the field of children’s rights. Participants in the session entitled “Vodafone Connecting for Good: Starting a National Conversation on Healthy Online Behaviour for Children and Parents” included Dr Geoffrey Shannon, the Government’s Special Rapporteur on Child Protection, John Hand, CEO of the Irish Society for Protection of Cruelty to Children (ISPCC), researcher Karen Hand and DCU’s Dr Helena Murphy together with Vodafone Foundation CEO, Liam O’Brien and a youth ambassador from Webwise.
