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- Pay the same: fines may be imposed in Russia for bullying at school and on the Internet
Pay the same: fines may be imposed in Russia for bullying at school and on the Internet
The fight against bullying in schools and on the Internet is reaching a new level: in Russia they want to start fining for it. LDPR deputies have developed a bill according to which penalties of up to 500 thousand rubles can be imposed for bullying and cyberbullying (the text of the document is available to Izvestia). At the same time, not all parties support this initiative — in particular, the SRDP is against it. At the same time, an inter—factional group of deputies is preparing an initiative to prevent harassment of minors, which should be adopted by the end of the year. Lawyers warn that it will not be easy to prove the fact of constant humiliation in court. About how deputies want to solve the problem of bullying and cyberbullying in Russia — in the Izvestia article.
What penalties for bullying are proposed by the deputies
The bill that the LDPR deputies want to submit for consideration involves the introduction of administrative responsibility for bullying and cyberbullying. To do this, they propose to introduce a separate offense called "harassment" into the Administrative Code.
According to the document, which turned out to be at the disposal of Izvestia, harassment will mean "systematic humiliation of another person's honor and dignity," including his public discrediting on the Internet. The new initiative is designed to protect not only children, but also adults who may face harassment at work. At the same time, if the offender is a person under the age of 16, his parents or guardians will be responsible.
— Bullying, which in Russian means banal harassment and humiliation of a person, has become a serious problem in Russia, which affects both adults and children. Especially, of course, minors with their fragile psyche," LDPR chairman Leonid Slutsky told Izvestia. — The capabilities of messengers and social networks multiply the impact on the victim. We believe that preventive measures are not enough here — it is necessary to punish "cyber-scams" in rubles. And it's essential that these creatures don't have to pour virtual dirt on people.
It is proposed to impose a fine from 10,000 to 50,000 rubles for harassment of individuals, from 100,000 to 500,000 rubles for legal entities, and from 100,000 to 200,000 rubles for officials.
A VTsIOM survey showed that more than a third of Russians are well acquainted with bullying. According to the study, one in four was bullied at school, and one in five was bullied by their children or grandchildren. It is possible that the problem of bullying has worsened in recent years. Thus, the majority of victims of bullying (53%) are young people aged 18-24. 84% of Russians consider bullying to be a serious problem that requires mandatory proceedings. According to the Security 2.0 monitoring center, the number of cyberbullying incidents in Russia increased by 15% in 2024 compared to the previous year.
Today, the Administrative Code of the Russian Federation prescribes fines only for insulting — a one-time humiliation of a person's honor and dignity, while bullying implies repeated bullying. According to the new initiative, if a child has been bullied for a long time, his parents will be able to file a complaint with the local prosecutor's office. In it, they must indicate all the facts that prove that the child was systematically bullied. Harassment can be considered regular verbal and written insults, including on the Internet, as well as spitting, slapping and indecent gestures, the LDPR explained. Eyewitness accounts can be used as evidence.
Nevertheless, in practice, parents may face a number of problems trying to prove the fact of regular bullying, Ekaterina Kosareva, managing partner of the VMT Consult analytical agency, told Izvestia. It is not always possible to collect information about repeated humiliations, as it often depends on the personal assessments of the participants in the conflict. In addition, if the bill is passed, it is unlikely that parents will start submitting applications to the prosecutor's office en masse, the expert believes.
— For most families, contacting law enforcement agencies is a serious step that requires time, effort and emotional resources. In addition, it will be necessary to develop common approaches to the qualification of such actions in order to avoid arbitrary interpretation of the concept of "harassment," the lawyer explained.
Intervention in the problem of bullying through judicial authorities will attract a lot of public attention to the topic, says Maria Todorova, a child and family psychologist. According to her, parents have already come to her more than once, asking her to help their children, who were regularly bullied in schools.
— At the same time, too much external pressure can increase the stress of a child who has become a victim of bullying and create the feeling that he is snitching on his peers. Legal measures can act as an auxiliary tool, but they do not replace educational and psychological work," the psychologist told Izvestia.
Other measures to address bullying
The State Duma is also working on a bill aimed at preventing bullying among minors. One of the authors of the initiative is the head of the Youth Policy Committee, Artyom Metelev (United Russia). The bill is currently being finalized. At the same time, in an early version of the document, it was proposed to register violators with the police, as well as include discussion of bullying in the school curriculum. In addition, it was planned to create "reconciliation services" in each school, which would include both specialists and high school students to resolve conflict situations.
Unlike the draft law on fines for bullying, this document focuses on creating a system of prevention rather than punishment. According to Metelev, the bill does not involve the introduction of administrative responsibility. Its main goal is to build a comprehensive system that will effectively combat bullying at an early stage.
An inter-factional group of deputies is working on the bill, which includes parliamentarians from all parties, he said.
The bill on the prevention of bullying among children is scheduled to be submitted for consideration in the fall. This is due to the need to adopt it by the end of the year, as stipulated by the national Youth and Children project. A deputy from the Fair Russia — For Truth Party (SRDP) is actively involved in the work on the document Yana Lantratova. This party has previously dealt with the topic of bullying by holding an All-Russian anti-bullying forum.
— Now schools often try to hush up the situation to the last, not to take out the problem. Most often, children are left with problems one-on-one, with inactivity and helplessness of adults. And the result of this is broken destinies, suicides, emergencies with weapons in schools. It is necessary to legislatively create a system of competent and rapid response to the bullying situation. And the key here should be the participation of not only parents and teachers, but also professional psychologists," said Sergei Mironov, the leader of the SRWP.
The party has repeatedly appealed to the Ministry of Education to provide every school with full-time psychologists. Sergey Mironov expressed the opinion that the introduction of penalties for bullying may not solve the problem, but rather worsen it.
Izvestia sent a request to the Ministry of Education to clarify whether the agency plans to introduce measures to prevent bullying in schools.
Earlier, the Prosecutor General's Office also proposed placing juvenile offenders in temporary detention centers.
At the same time, parents of children who humiliate others should be held responsible for bullying in schools, Nina Ostanina, a deputy from the Communist Party of the Russian Federation and head of the Committee for Family Protection, Fatherhood, Motherhood and Childhood, told Izvestia.
— I have an understanding of what needs to be asked of children. But I still advocate making the student–teacher–parent triad work. We have this triad destroyed, there is no connection between parent and student. By his decree, the President has already introduced the need for all educational organizations to have the position of deputy director for educational work. From my point of view, this is good, but not enough," said the parliamentarian.
Nina Ostanina supports fines for parents of children found bullying others. In her opinion, financial sanctions should be "sensitive" in order to motivate parents to actively engage in solving the problem.
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