Faced with harassment, what does the law say?

In England, the Centers for Disease Control and Department of Education have defined harassment as unwanted aggressive behavior, an observed or perceived power imbalance and a repetition of behaviors or high probability of repetition.

In France, harassment it is repeated violence which can be verbal, physical or psychological. It is characterized by intimidation, isolation, repetitiveness.

What is school bullying for English law?

In England, there are four types of harassment against three in France. These four types are: physical bullying, verbal bullying, relational bullying (efforts to harm the reputation or relationships of the young person targeted property damage). These two forms of bullying include direct bullying, it occurs in the presence of a targeted youth and indirect bullying, it is not directly communicated to a targeted youth such as the spread of rumors.

In Canada, a law passed in 2012 allows schools to suspend or even expel a harassing student. The purpose of this law is to combat bullying and violence in schools. This bill is a first: the terms "violence", "bullying" and cyberbullying "have been defined. For example, "bullying" is a repetitive act aimed at harming, oppressing, offending a person. The law explicitly refers to certain causes of violence such as "homophobia" and "gender identity". In the event of cyberbullying, the school administration has the power to intervene if it concerns the establishment directly or indirectly. Sanctions against stalkers will be gradual and the school principal will have the power to expel a student, following a favorable opinion from a study committee. But there is no question of expelling the student and not following him: "a suspension or an expulsion should not be perceived by the student as a leave offered to him" explains the deputy Gaudreault. Everything must be done to promote the rehabilitation of the bully.

In Germany, the law hardens. German Justice Minister Heiko Maas said in 2017: "We need to increase the pressure on social networks" in order to tackle online harassment. According to the law, all hate messages (discrimination, denial, harassment, etc.) will now have to disappear from the platforms within twenty-four hours, and "questionable" content will have to be cleaned up within a week. Even better: in a second step, the platforms will have to ensure that the offending content does not reappear in the content streams.

Gabrielle.S