The difficulty of proving mobbing

Carlos was a victim of bullying in primary and secondary school. He suffered on-going harassment and abuse from his classmates for a long time. He was the victim of shocking events, including a plastic bag being put over his head and being thrown down stairs. The resulting psychological damage left him seriously scarred and, many years later, he is still affected by the events of his childhood.

Carlos' story is one of many received by Asociación No al Acoso Escolar, as stated by its president, Javier Pérez Aznar, during the ESADE Institute of Forensic Evidence and Probative Law's Conference on Mobbing, organised on 14th June.

Held at ESADE Law School, the conference brought together experts who explained how to detect and deal with bullying at school, work and in real estate.

Bullying, the invisible enemy
"The suicides of minors Jokin, Mónica and Carla have increased awareness and the number of people taking legal action against cases of bullying. In spite of this, unfortunately, there has been an upward trend in bullying in recent years. Prevention policies that have been put into practice are not proving effective," commented Mr Pérez Aznar.

In Spain, one in four children suffers from bullying. The consequences of this harassment – often a silent threat – can leave serious emotional and psychological scars which can  sometimes be irreversible. At the moment, 20% of psychiatric patients have been victims of bullying in the past.

"Carlos wasn't a pupil of mine, but we were in the same school. The big problem with bullying is detecting it, because it's not something that is seen. It always happens when teachers aren't around," warned Carmen Cabestany, teacher and secretary of Asociación No al Acoso Escolar. "It's very difficult for teachers to detect and, even if we do, the problem is that the two kids involved always deny it; because one of them, the victim, is being threatened."

Witnesses, crucial in the process
Proving a case of cyber bullying is relatively easy, but  proving a case of bullying in the classroom is much more complicated because there is often no evidence. According to Mrs Cabestany, "The key to showing that bullying is taking place is having witnesses. The problem is that witnesses are also afraid."

Mrs Cabestany went on to point out that bullying figures are higher in primary than in secondary schools and that it is in primary school where efforts should be made to halt it and where intervention policies should be promoted to prevent bullying from happening.

"When you talk to a school headmaster, most of the time their response is to deny that there's any bullying going on in their school. But, unfortunately, it often does exist; but the problem's out of sight. Our biggest challenge is demonstrating that bullying exists, because only when we recognise its existence can we start to look for solutions," said Mr Pérez Aznar.

Workplace mobbing
The aim of mobbing in the workplace is the systematic destruction of a person's psychological stability and their reduction to a state of helplessness. "The person who starts the mobbing process has a very clear objective when choosing their victim and the damage the aim to cause," explained Marina Parés Soliva, president of Servicio Europeo de Información sobre el Mobbing.

Mobbing in the workplace can also occur in organisations with very good practices. The difference, according to Mrs Parés, is that in this type of organisation it is easier to prevent these aggressive behaviours from being continued over time once they are detected: "If the other colleagues who witness the mobbing don't allow it, then this form of harassment will go no further."

Demonstrating workplace harassment is not easy. One of the obstacles that may delay its detection is the level of resistance of the person being attacked. "The victim may have a very high resistance level, which could mean that they show few symptoms even following very violent assaults," said Mrs Parés.

Mar Aldeano Martín, Ombudsman's adviser, noted that the institution receives numerous complaints of harassment from public employees and emphasised the importance of detecting this in time in order to protect workers: "Workplace mobbing is a risk that must be prevented, and Public Administration should protect workers against this type of risk". According to Aldeano, although the Government of Catalonia has a protocol involving actions to be implemented to prevent these situations, the reality is that it is ineffective and for this reason is currently under review.

Other difficulties in proving workplace harassment range from coming up with mechanisms to distinguish harassment from stress and professional requirements to identifying the employee who is acting as aggressor; differentiating between a false case of harassment and a real case; detecting false witnesses, and identifying the "fakers" who are driven by the possibility of receiving compensation.

Real estate mobbing
Phone calls late at night, turning off the water or electricity supply without notice, refusing to accept payments, spreading false rumours such as a possible eviction or accusing elderly tenants of making such stories up are some of the attacks received by neighbours who have suffered real estate mobbing.

Mobbing to try to drive out the occupants of a dwelling is a practice that, although fairly common, is also difficult to prove, since many of the threats are unable to be provable in court.

"The aggressor always denies the attacks and will try to make out that the person making these claims is a problematic tenant. Real estate harassment is usually carried out through third parties, not directly by the estate agency or owner," explained Mrs Parés. "There may be cases in which estate agents lease property to people who make life impossible for tenants still living in the building: Or even starting building work and leaving the property propped up for years without actually doing any work and, in the process, putting tenants at greater risk of accidents the longer the work is left unfinished."