Argentina and Mexico are Latin American countries with highest number of child cyberbullying cases

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – Argentina is among the two countries with the highest child cyberbullying crimes in Latin America. This emerges from a comprehensive UNESCO report on bullying, grooming, and school mistreatment via cyber over the last year.

The International Center for the Promotion of Human Rights (CIPDH) published the results of an investigation in the framework of the “International Day against violence and harassment at school, including cyberbullying”, which is celebrated on the first Thursday of November every year.

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The report analyzed the incidence of cyberbullying throughout the region and focused on how this problem mainly affects children and adolescents in Latin America.

The work was held between September 1 and October 1 and included statistics provided by the National Ministry of Justice on cybercrime in the country and cross-referenced data with international organizations involved in the fight against cyberbullying.

In addition, a telephone survey was conducted on a total of 2,654 cases taken from families with children between 5 and 15 years old, together with primary and secondary school teachers.

Thus, the figures showed that Argentina ranked second among the Latin American countries most affected by child cyberbullying during the last year, behind only Mexico.

The list continued with Honduras, in third place, Costa Rica and Chile, while Brazil ranked sixth, Peru seventh, and Uruguay eighth.

“So far this year, around 6,000 complaints of cyberbullying have already been registered, with an average of 25 court cases opened per day throughout the country,” said CIPDH executive director Fernanda Gil Lozano. Likewise, from 2012 to the present, the figure rose to almost 30,000 reported cases.

As expected, the pandemic and the processes of quarantine confinement worldwide had a negative impact on cyberbullying statistics.

During the last 18 months, in Argentina, child cyberbullying cases increased by 50%. By the end of 2019, one in four cases of bullying was manifested through digital platforms. However, nowadays, two out of four cases happen on networks or messaging services.

The numbers also increased with age, a phenomenon strictly linked to the more traditional and lasting approach of children to electronic devices: from the age of 12, 54.5% of bullying cases are digital.

As a result of these investigations, UNESCO concluded that the isolation forced by the pandemic led to the development of studies and social life much closer to online services. This led to access to a greater variety of information before their concerns but also exposed them in a much greater way to threats on the networks.

“The greater access to technology that resulted from the isolation caused by the Covid-19 pandemic led many minors to spend many hours in front of smartphones, tablets or computers, which also resulted in a significant exposure to this type of crime,” said Gil Lozano.

The report revealed that 80% of the victims of virtual bullying of children are girls, unlike what happens with face-to-face bullying, in which 60% of the cases represent male victims.

Among the most used devices where such cases occur are smartphones. In turn, the application most used by perpetrators is Whatsapp, with 74.3% of cases. Meanwhile, Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, Zoom, and Telegram share, in that order, the remaining 25.7%.

One of the most complicated factors is the persistence of violent acts against children and adolescents. According to the survey, 90% of the victims reported that the harassment occurs daily and that the harassment is almost always perpetuated for months. In addition, more than half of the incidents, 60%, are not reported promptly. Were the reasons given by the victims? Embarrassment or lack of information.

The seriousness of the cases was also one of the topics to be analyzed during the report. “86.7% of the cases correspond to grooming and child pornography, perpetrated by pedophiles who take advantage of technology to establish contact with minors from fake profiles or accounts,” detailed Gil Lozano.

She stressed the importance of raising awareness among people worldwide about the online problem, cyberbullying, and its consequences on children, adolescents, and even their own families.

In her report, she stressed the importance of “calling on students, parents, other members of the educational community, education authorities and various sectors and partners, including the technology sector, to pay attention to this problem to encourage them to contribute to the prevention of online violence, to ensure the safety and well-being of children and young people.”

Gil Lozano added: “Although the role of parents is fundamental in the fight against these crimes, the education system has an essential mission in the face of this problem, with the obligation to address issues of Internet safety, digital citizenship, and the use of technologies.”

In addition, the organization’s director urged educational institutions to provide the necessary information to students to detect and identify online violence and have sufficient tools to defend themselves against its various forms of manifestation.