Faith and race-based child bullying on the rise

Figures from UK police forces – obtained by a Freedom of Information Act from Childline – show 5,349 hate crimes were recorded against under-18s with a racial, religious or faith-based element, a 14 per cent increase in one year.

Childline has delivered almost 2,700 counselling sessions about race and faith based bullying in the last three years.

Childline’s new Understand Me campaign challenges xenophobia and prejudice and empowers young people to speak out and seek help.

Children and young who get in touch with Childline about race and faith based bullying talk about a wide range of issues. They have experienced: bullying and cyberbullying; verbal abuse and racist name calling.

Some young people said they felt isolated and withdrawn from society. Others had self-harmed or said they no longer wanted to go to school because they were worried about the abuse they'd face.

Spikes in Childline counselling sessions about racial and faith based bullying have sometimes followed terror attacks, with the number rising by over a third following the Westminster attack in March 20173.

Dame Esther Rantzen, President of Childline said: "Bullying of any kind is vile, but targeting someone because of the colour of their skin, religious beliefs or their accent is simply unacceptable. Children are taking on board prejudices around race and religion in society and trading them as playground insults, with extremely harmful results.

"Young people should be encouraged to be proud of who they are. Racial bullying can be hard to cope with but young people need to know they don't have to carry this burden alone. Childline is here for all young people and talking to someone might help them find a way to deal with the situation."