More information
Description
One third of Romanian students experienced sexual harassment during university (FILIA 2021). 43.6% of the universities mention in their code of ethics only harassment, missing its definition or the steps the victims must follow towards justice (FILIA, 2016). 1 in 10 victims avoid approaching the authorities after undergoing a form of abuse (Eurobarometer, 2017). When questioned, the authorities do not have statistics on sexual harassment in schools, focused on the abuse of teacher-student power. Within the project the cases of sexual harassment that took place in the last 5 years will be indexed in order to make an x-ray of the phenomenon in the Romanian education system by accessing court files, press articles and collect testimonies from victims, following a social media communication campaign.
The database will be translated into an interactive map on which people can navigate through the cases in different schools, thus providing an overview of the problem. It will be extracted from the statistical database and translate into infographics: cases of harassment per educational cycle, the response of the authorities, the evolution of cases thus the evolution of the reported cases and the response of the authorities over time is observed. Minimum 3 texts and audio investigations, accompanied by video teasers, infographics and photos, will be published through a communication campaign. With the support of partner it will be offered psychological and legal assistance to victims (minimum 15) that can get in touch through a telephone line dedicated to them. ANAIS will also conduct an exploratory study on sexual harassment in universities and schools (500 student responses, 50 teachers).
Through the map, other victims can write even after the project is over, to document their cases and add them to the big picture. Thus, the project becomes a constant barometer of sexual harassment in the school system for the millions of students in Romania.