It will become more difficult to avoid liability for bullying: the Rada supported amendments to the Code of Administrative Offenses

The Verkhovna Rada Committee on Law Enforcement Activities recommended that the parliament adopt in the first reading draft law No. 14127, which provides for an increase in the term of administrative liability for bullying in educational institutions.

The document proposes to amend Article 38 of the Code of Ukraine on Administrative Offenses and increase the term of imposing an administrative penalty for bullying of participants in the educational process from three months to one year.

The authors of the draft law emphasize that the current three-month term actually allows avoiding liability. According to the explanatory note, during 2019–2024, 221 cases of bullying were closed due to the expiration of the terms, and the share of such decisions in different years ranged from 10% to 32%.

The initiators of the changes believe that the extension of the terms will make it possible to respond more effectively to cases of bullying and minimize the risks of avoiding punishment due to the delay in considering cases.

The draft law has already been supported by the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the Ministry of Education and Science, the Ministry of Justice, and the Ministry of Youth and Sports. The Main Scientific and Expert Department of the Verkhovna Rada Apparatus also provided a positive opinion.

The Educational Ombudsman supported the initiative, but drew attention to the fact that the draft law does not solve a number of systemic problems in the field of child protection.

Among them are the lack of separate liability for violence against children, different interpretations of the concept of bullying, insufficient protection of teachers and adult students, as well as low fines for such offenses.

The Ombudsman proposed to unify the concept of bullying, provide for separate liability for violence against children, and significantly increase fines — up to 300–600 tax-free minimum incomes of citizens.

At the same time, some experts from the National Academy of Legal Sciences of Ukraine believe that the optimal period for bringing to justice for bullying could be six months, not one year, by analogy with cases of domestic violence.