The Northern Ireland Anti-Bullying Forum (NIABF) defines bullying as the repeated use of power by one or more persons intentionally to hurt, harm or adversely affect the rights and needs of another or others. 

Recent research has highlighted that 43% of primary school children and 29% of post-primary pupils perceive that they have been bullied at least once. The Nature and Extent of Bullying in Schools in the North of Ireland (.pdf 161kb) published in June 2007 was undertaken by the University of Ulster on behalf of the Department of Education.

School bullying can have serious consequences for children, leading to academic underachievement, physical and emotional distress, loss of self-esteem, eating disorders and truancy. It must be tackled through both preventing incidents from occurring by awareness raising and responding to reported incidents by providing support to all involved.

There are many reasons why people bully others, but something different about a person is usually the targeted reason used to cause this upset, and ultimately the person bullying is enjoying the power and control they are gaining through displaying this bullying behaviour. Anyone can bully someone but everyone has a responsibility to act together to end bullying of children and young people. Active Participation is key to ending bullying.