[DRAFT #1c] [GA#603 REPLACEMENT?] Against Bullying

[Tinhampton]

Character count: 3,153
Word count: 474

Kevin Mitchell, third-in-line to the post of Delegate-Ambassador: You can trust me; I support human rights!
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Against Bullying
A resolution to restrict civil freedoms in the interest of moral decency.

Category: Moral Decency

Strength: Mild

Proposed by: Tinhampton

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Recognising that, while GA#603 "LGBTIQA Inclusiveness in Schools Act" was enacted to prevent homophobic bullying and to promote respect for the LGBTQ+ community, it was later repealed for its overbroad definitions and unfortunately poor arguments, but

Believing nonetheless that all students and staff in schools, regardless of their circumstances or immutable characteristics, deserve to be treated fairly and without discrimination...

The General Assembly hereby enacts as follows.

1. For the purposes of this resolution, "bullying" means any of the wilful acts of:
   
   1. discriminating against or harming (whether verbally, physically or psychologically) any person to their disadvantage simply because they possess or lack any arbitrary and reductive characteristic (ARC),
   2. discriminating against or harming any student to their disadvantage due to their levels of academic achievement, and of
   3. promoting either aforementioned form of discrimination or harm.
2. Nothing in Article a forbids:
   
   1. schools from using academic ability as a criterion for membership on ability-based school programmes (such as gifted and talented programmes),
   2. schools from using physical ability as a criterion for membership on school sports teams,
   3. institutes of higher education from making offers to students based on their predicted or actual grades, or
   4. employers from using students' predicted or actual grades as a factor in offering employment to them.
3. Schools in member states (hereinafter "schools") shall prohibit their students and staff from engaging in bullying while on school property, must prescribe appropriately punitive action against such bullies, and are encouraged to similarly punish those of their students and staff who are understood to have engaged in bullying beyond school property.
4. Schools shall enable their students and staff to report bullying, investigate to the best of their ability all reports which allege that their students or staff have engaged in bullying, and not retaliate against any student or staff for making such a report where it is not frivolous.
5. Schools must:
   
   1. regularly raise awareness among their students and staff of what bullying is, the different forms it can take, the kinds of people it can affect, its negative health impacts, how it can be prevented (including by bystanders), what punishments exist for it, and Article d reporting mechanisms,
   2. actively encourage their students and staff not to disrespect or otherwise bully any person because of whatever ARCs they may have,
   3. offer personal and meaningful support to those of their students and staff who are involved in bullying, with a particular focus on the wrongness of bullying and the full responsibility of the bully for their actions,
   4. confidentially provide all of their students and staff with informative and respectful resources about the various ARCs, should those students and staff request them, and
   5. remind their students and staff that all individuals - regardless of whatever ARCs they may possess or lack - are equal in value and equal under law.

[Tinhampton]

Reservoir of old drafts

[Hulldom]

As a first pass, I quite like the idea of an anti-bullying omnibus rather than something that splices the problem.

I don't like d(iv) though, something doesn't quite sit right with me there.

[Apatosaurus]

"In principle we fully support a resolution against school bullying."

"We concur with the Hulldomian Delegation about d.iv; to have to educate about every single ARC a person may have could be unreasonable and/or impractical. Furthermore, if someone has an ARC but that school is not aware of that (for example someone who is closeted), does that school still have to provide resources to that student? A better standard would be requiring schools to offer such resources or education to any student who asks, but that may be impractical to enforce."

"We believe the title would be better as "Against School Bullying."

OOC: More detailed comments to come later!

[Desmosthenes and Burke]

OOC:
While I would prefer you remove the phrase "to their disadvantage" entirely, perhaps that phrase should be moved to immediately coincide with discrimination as it sounds strange to say "harming any person to their disadvantage", seeing as "harm" rather implies a disadvantage.

discriminating to the disadvantage of or harming of any person...

Edit: The parallelism of that is horribly broken. My ability to supply elegant prose is suffering today.

Though, again, personally I would remove it and do away with permitting bullying through the "soft bigotry of low expectations" as well.

I believe a.ii may need to be tightened, I think. I get what you want to accomplish, but in an academic setting, some level of discrimination on the basis of academic achievement and ARCs is unavoidable in handing out scholarships, limited seats in competitive classes, sports team membership, etc.

[Astrobolt]

Ambassador Tappe: “While we might be open to a proposal that tackles bullying, we are opposed if this resolution is meant to be a replacement for GA#603.”

[Barfleur]

While Barfleur supports this proposal, I must note my objection to the second clause of article b. In the mind of this delegation, extending school jurisdiction beyond the actual reaches of the school raises grave questions about free speech as well as arbitrary application."

[Xanthorrhoea]

As a first pass, I quite like the idea of an anti-bullying omnibus rather than something that splices the problem.

I don't like d(iv) though, something doesn't quite sit right with me there.

I need to read through this more carefully to figure it out, but on first pass this is mostly inoffensive. I agree there are issues with D.iv though.

First, your definition of bullying includes discrimination against those lacking characteristics (e.g. bullying a person because they’re not on the soccer team). However, D.iv only mandates providing info to people who possess a characteristic, not those who lack one. People will be missed. Apato’s point about closeted students is also a good one. How do you support a kid who is too afraid to ask for help due to systemic discrimination and bullying. If people express general disgust about queer people, then a queer person is much more likely to hide their identity. They decidedly won’t go up to the front desk and ask for info on being queer.

D.iv is a flawed approach. It should mandate schools provide education about minority groups and those most commonly discriminated against to everyone, with an emphasis on understanding, acceptance and normalisation. Specific information should be easily and anonymously available (e.g. through internet resources, discreet library sections etc (although such information should also be visibly available as well. Being different should not be treated as shameful and something that should be hidden, even though we should acknowledge that some people do feel shame or want to hide for many reasons).

[Goobergunchia]

At the Goobergunchian desk there is a large stack of colorful pamphlets, with titles such as "Bullies You Can Fight Back With Cash! Think of it as an Investment in Your Mental and Physical Health", "I'm Too Depressed to Even Open this Pamphlet", and "You Won’t Be Alone Forever … Probably!"

Should this proposal eventually pass into World Assembly law, we are willing to facilitate distribution from Pillsbury's Pamphlets to other member states in need of helpful, age-appropriate materials to make available for their students.

[Lord] Michael Evif
Goobergunchian WA Ambassador

[Honeydewistania]

Support only if it replaces GA#603

[Itanamy]

I agree with this act against bullying. Kids who are bullied carry those experiences with them for a lifetime. No child should be kept in a situation where they are abused over random, foolish things. Schools should be forced to take more action against bullying in order to create a kinder world. Also, some people who are bullied in school may take excessive actions in order for the abuse to stop.

[Tinhampton]

Bump. Article d has been amended so that schools are not required to investigate literally every single report of anyone, anywhere in the multiverse, bullying their students or staff. Other changes have been made based on feedback.

[Bananaistan]

"WA enforced "equality": grades of current students cannot be used by prospective employers to decide who to hire. Bonkers. Why would any student even bother?

"Or the worse scenario: no student can arrange for employment while still a student for when they conclude a their studies. Because their current status as student means that employers must wait until they are no longer students to decide who to hire based on grades achieved. If graduate hiring programmes cannot be undertaken during term time, students must look forward to months of either unemployment or inappropriate employment in jobs they didn't study for. We have rarely seen such a gross anti-student measure as this."

[Anne of Cleves in TNP]

“The Clevesian Empire will support. Despite how impossible it is to carry out clause e(iv), given that there are many students with diverse ARCs, there are no other major flaws and is related to the original resolution’s topic in a certain respect.”
-Ms. Charlotte Schafer, WA Ambassador for the Clevesian Empire

[Martzbrieg]

Personally, with regards to e(iv), I believe that guiding and helping with the provision of resources may prove to be more fruitful, rather than schools providing resources to deal with possession of ARCs themselves. The fact that such services are available must be public knowledge, but must have an ability to be accessed discreetly.

However, the Federal Republic of Martzbrieg is willing to vote "yes" if such a resolution ever comes to a vote.

[The Orwell Society]

Support

[Separatist Peoples]

"Bullying is not an international issue. Opposed."

[WayNeacTia]

"Bullying is not an international issue. Opposed."

“I’ll raise a mug to that!”

[West Barack and East Obama]

"Bullying is not an international issue. Opposed."

Dr Justin Obama, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs: Not with that attitude.

[Tinhampton]

RE Banana: Article b has been expanded.

A question for everyone: How would you make Article e(iv) more realistic and attainable without compromising on quality? Or - reflecting Apato's concerns - should I just replace Articles e(iv-v) with

confidentially provide all of their students and staff with informative and respectful resources about the various ARCs, should those students and staff request them, and

?

[Martzbrieg]

RE Banana: Article b has been expanded.

A question for everyone: How would you make Article e(iv) more realistic and attainable without compromising on quality? Or - reflecting Apato's concerns - should I just replace Articles e(iv-v) with

confidentially provide all of their students and staff with informative and respectful resources about the various ARCs, should those students and staff request them, and

?

Yes, that would be a good idea

[Anne of Cleves in TNP]

RE Banana: Article b has been expanded.

A question for everyone: How would you make Article e(iv) more realistic and attainable without compromising on quality? Or - reflecting Apato's concerns - should I just replace Articles e(iv-v) with

confidentially provide all of their students and staff with informative and respectful resources about the various ARCs, should those students and staff request them, and

?

OOC: I’d say either privately call all students with the same or comparable ARCs to be given resources as a group or to simply give in the school information about the ARCs (as Xanthorr said previously)

[Fachumonn]

IMO Bullying too informal, but it's sad because there really isn't a replacement for it which works well and makes sense.

[Tinhampton]

"Bullying" is commonplace language in the United Kingdom. How commonplace? Very.

Pushing ahead with the Article e change described above, absent further objection.

[Separatist Peoples]

"We maintain our opposition but want to note that bullying is a perfectly cromulent word for this proposal, and has the added bonus of being neither slang nor inaccurate."