Brajović: Peer violence is not just a problem for children, it is a mirror of society

Peer violence is not just a problem for children. It is a reflection of society, said Danijela Brajović, a member of the presidency of the European Women's Forum.

"Hardly a month goes by without the public being confronted with a new case of peer violence. What is particularly worrying is the fact that the perpetrators of these events are minors. This is no longer a matter of individual incidents or a problem that can be justified by "childish mischief" or the 'growing up phase'. This is a serious alarm that we are facing a deep crisis of values ​​and responsibility in society," Brajović said in a statement.

According to her, when children beat, humiliate, abuse, and publicly ridicule their peers, we must not only ask ourselves what happened but also how we, as a society, allowed it to happen.

"Violence did not happen overnight. It is the result of years of silence, tolerating aggression, relativizing problems, and the lack of timely reaction from those responsible. It is unacceptable that after each new case, the public is outraged for several days, and then everything is forgotten until the next incident. Children cannot and must not grow up in an environment in which fear has become everyday life, and violence is a means of proving oneself and gaining popularity," she said.

Brajović added that it is time to stop making excuses and start taking responsibility.

"A decisive reaction is needed from the family, school, institutions and the entire community. Any ignoring of the problem represents complicity in its further spread. Peer violence is not just a problem for children. It is a mirror of society. And when the mirror shows us more and more violence among the youngest every day, then it is clear that we are not only facing the problem of peer violence, but also a serious moral and social collapse that no one has the right to ignore anymore," she concluded.