First meeting for GUARD 2 Project

Two weeks ago, the president of the UISP Committee Ciriè Settimo Chivasso Ferruccio Valzano, the Director and Head of European Projects Roberto Rinaldi and the assistant Project Manager Ilaria De Vecchis went to the Macedonian city of Skopje for the first meeting in the presence of the project GUARD 2.

A program that intends to act on a rather complex and sometimes difficult to intercept phenomenon: that of cyberbullying. The purpose of GUARD 2 is in fact to create a network of educators - who work both in the sports and in the socio/cultural fields - who can intercept situations of youth discomfort, to protect victims of cyberbullying and stop those who perpetrate certain attitudes doers. But also to prevent and raise awareness among young people - indicatively between the ages of 6 and 18 - on this issue, also making them face up to their own responsibilities. Too often, victims of cyberbullying do not report, or in any case do not inform about what is happening to them, experiencing the lack of reference adults. A picture that therefore brings out the need to invest in prevention, education and awareness programmes, especially in those sectors where the minor's personality is formed. Specifically GUARD 2, in the leisure time contexts of children and adolescents.

“The project may seem easy, but it actually has several critical issues. The first of all is the lack of a common definition of what cyberbullying is and consequently the inexistence of uniform legislation. In Germany, for example, online harassment, blackmail and extortion are not considered cyberbullying. In Cyprus and Hungary, on the other hand, the phenomenon is practically ignored. In this context, each country applies its own law: from this point of view, Italy - as well as Portugal and Slovenia - the sanction system is rather severe” explained Director Rinaldi. GUARD 2, of which the UISP Ciriè Settimo Chivasso Committee is the lead partner, also makes use of the collaboration of the IRCrES - Research Institute on Sustainable Economic Growth of the National Research Council - which will deal with the analysis of the data relating to the phenomenon, the Athenian association Freedom Gate Greece and the Macedonian Youth Council Next Generation Skopje.

“During this meeting - Rinaldi continued- we defined the focus groups of the various countries in order to carry out the planned actions in the best possible way, to create this antenna system in sports venues. Furthermore, there was no lack of analysis of the considerations already advanced by the IRCrES. During the meetings we also chose the logo that will identify the project and showed the website and social page we are working on". In recent months, the various partners involved will be active in researching and sharing good practices to combat cyberbullying, so as to be able to implement - starting from September 2023 - a series of Training Modules. The identification of these good practices will allow, once the project is completed and shared at European level, a preventive, but also specific intervention, perhaps involving psychologists and law enforcement in case of need.