Bullying and Harassment
What is Harassment?
Harassment is any unwelcome behaviour that offends, humiliates or intimidates any person or causes alarm or distress. It includes but is not limited to physical conduct, sexual violence, assault, verbal or non-verbal malice, coercion and stalking. Harassment could in some cases relate to a person’s gender, race, ethnic or national origin, sexual orientation, marital status, religion or belief, age, disability or any other personal characteristic.
It is the impact of the behaviour rather than the intent of the perpetrator that determines whether harassment has occurred.
Examples of unacceptable behaviour include (but are not limited to):
- Physical Contact: Ranging from unwanted touching to serious assault, gestures, intimidation and aggressive behaviour.
- Verbal or Written (including online and on social media): Unwelcome remarks, suggestions and propositions, malicious gossip, jokes and banter, offensive language.
- Non-verbal: Offensive literature or pictures, graffiti and computer imagery, isolation or non-cooperation and exclusion or isolation from social activities.
What is Bullying?
There is no legal definition of bullying but it is usually defined as repeated behaviour which is intended to hurt someone either emotionally or physically, and it is often aimed at certain people because of their race, religion, gender or sexual orientation or any other aspect such as appearance or disability.
Bullying can take many forms including:
- Physical assault
- Teasing
- Making threats
- Name calling
- Cyber bullying