New perspectives in protection against bullying and cyberbullying

Bullying and cyberbullying are closely related manifestations that cause concern because of their escalation in recent years and the harm caused on minors, adolescents above all, who are often victims.  These two phenomena are not regulated by the Convention on the Rights of the Child, adopted in New York on 20 November 1989 and ratified in Italy by Law 176 of 27 May 1991.

In Italy, Article 1 of Law No. 71 of 29 May 2017, "Disposizioni a tutela dei minori per la prevenzione ed il contrasto del fenomeno del cyberbullismo"[Provisions of the protection of minors to prevent and counter cyberbullism] not only defines the phenomenon of cyberbullying and its expressions, but represents also a tool to prevent and counter it. Another important step was taken with the enactment of Law No. 69 of 19 July 2019, Modifiche al codice penale, al codice di procedura penale e altre disposizioni in materia di tutela delle vittime di violenza domestica e di genere [Amendments to the Criminal Code, the Code of Criminal Procedure and other provisions on the protection of victims of domestic and gender-based violence], which punishes those who disseminate "sexually explicit images or videos" without the consent of the person concerned.

During the current legislative term, several proposals for legislation have been submitted, on the topic of bullying and cyberbullying.

Attached is an overview of draft legislation on the topic of new perspectives in the protection against bullying and cyberbullying.