Girl’s parents win bravery award for work against online bullying
Nadya and Candid Pfister have been awarded this year’s Prix Courage for their work against cyberbullying since the suicide of their 13-year-old daughter.
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The CHF15,000 ($16,350) prize for courage and bravery was presented by Swiss news magazine Beobachter on Friday.
The couple’s only daughter, Céline, took her life in August 2017 after being bullied on the Snapchat app. Two teenagers had bullied her with an intimate picture she had taken of herself. They were sentenced to a few days of community service.
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Is bullying on the rise in Switzerland?
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Bullying, especially physical harassment, seems to be on the increase in Swiss schools, according to data from the latest global PISA study.
Since then the Pfisters have campaigned for bullying to be liable to prosecution. A parliamentary initiative is now pending. The couple, from canton Aargau in northern Switzerland, were selected by the public through an online vote and by a six-member jury. The jury awards its points without knowing the public’s decision.
“Just two clicks and your child’s life is ruined. That’s cyberbullying,” said Nadya Pfister.
Jury president Susanne Hochuli said via video that the jury had been unanimous. She said the couple had experienced the worst that could happen to parents but had still found the energy and moral courage for their work.
Beobachter had announced earlier in the week that the Dargebotene Hand/La Main Tendue helpline (the offered hand) would receive this year’s Prix Courage Lifetime Award. For more than 60 years the non-profit group has provided advice, or just an ear, to depressed or desperate people 24 hours a day (telephone number 143).
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Males and youth increasingly willing to reach out for advice
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The helpline, also known by its dialling code 143, released a statementExternal link (in French) on Monday in which it said it received a total of 222,263 telephone calls in 2017, an increase of 1.6%. The organisation particularly welcomed the fact that the number of calls by males – traditionally a more reticent group –…
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Many Swiss schoolchildren exposed to online hazards
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As a result, half of the youngsters surveyed said they did not feel safe online. A third also admitted to excessive internet usage, with a quarter saying they have unsuccessfully tried to cut down on time spent online. The dangers of the internet rose with age. Some 10% of 10-year-olds said they had been the…
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Parents in Switzerland are to a great extent unaware of the potential dangers which their children are exposed to online, the study, which was released Friday, found. “The number of nine-to-16-year-olds who have already experienced one of the investigated risks is substantial,” said media researcher Martin Hermida, who coordinated the survey. Based on extrapolation, he…
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Pro Juventute’s emergency “147” telephone hotline, designed to serve young people in need, has reported a significant increase in calls from troubled teens who have become the targets of name-calling, teasing and verbal abuse via the internet. Cyber-bullying is particularly threatening to teens because it continues away from school, is not monitored by adults and…
You can find an overview of ongoing debates with our journalists here. Please join us!
If you want to start a conversation about a topic raised in this article or want to report factual errors, email us at english@swissinfo.ch.