Freezing, glances and words can hurt at least as much as kicks and blows. The student Ronja Dahlén who was bullied in high school knows this. In a group of girls with tough jargon, a hierarchy was created where she ended up at the bottom.

- If I came to the dining room first and sat down at a table with vacant chairs, the others went to the other side of the dining room, she says.

Deficiencies in the work

In January this year, the Convention on the Rights of the Child became Swedish law. It states, among other things, that children have the right to have their voices heard in all matters concerning them. But 65 percent of those surveyed in grades 6-9 believe that they are partially, rarely or never given the opportunity to participate in the school's security work, according to Friends' report.

- Security work is very much a matter that concerns children, says Maria Loodberg, expert at Friends, who takes the statistics seriously but suspects that children and young people are sometimes not allowed to take part in what is actually done to ensure their security.

- For example, children sometimes think when it comes to safety work that adults do not act, but often they may do so in the staff room where they discuss with colleagues.

However, in the Friends personnel survey, 28 percent of those surveyed state that they only partially, to a fairly small extent or not at all have sufficient knowledge of security and equal treatment issues.

Ronja Dahlén tells of times when she has tried to highlight things that she did not think worked in school, but she experiences her opinions as blown away.

- For example, we voted for peer supporters who would be the best friend in the class, but it was always the popular ones who were also bullies who were chosen, she says.

Increased network presence

During the spring, Friends also conducted a survey which shows that the use of digital platforms and social media has increased in the last six months. Just over 10,000 young people aged 9–19 participated and 16 per cent also feel that the violations on these platforms have increased during the pandemic.

Ronja Dahlén was never subjected to bullying via social media, but the situation at school led her to change schools. Today she is fine.

- I do everything I can so that no child there will feel badly affected and it feels great.