Since the beginning of its activities in schools, middle schools and high schools, United by schools has observed a concentration of offences against property and persons during morning, midday and post-lunch breaks, particularly in recreational spaces.
The absence of structuring within these spaces explains the difficulty educators face in addressing these offences, in a community where a multitude of varied emotional needs can be observed. Modeling is proposed as a method to teach pupils to respect themselves and others within shared spaces, through six colored recreational districts.
Each colored recreational district is associated with a specific activity and has its own rules. The objective is to create peaceful and inclusive recreational breaks suitable for everyone. The main focus of these colored spaces lies in the static areas — namely the blue, green and purple ones — an innovative solution to prevent bullying at school by providing care and attention to isolated children.
Through sonometric data, the auditory difference between dynamic and static districts is perceptible. With a carefully studied arrangement of these colored spaces, the environment shifts from the sound level of a power saw to that of a normal conversation.
A blue district is dedicated to calm activities, for relaxing, walking, talking with friends and reading, without shouting or running. Supervision by educators is facilitated by the static nature of the pupils’ activities. Stillness favours the detection of offences against property and persons, as well as the identification of isolated pupils, thanks to unobstructed visibility and an attentive ear in the absence of children running and shouting. Moreover, an ostracised pupil, who suffers from the absence of friendships over short or long periods, is predisposed to seek refuge in static districts.
68 dB: sonometric data recorded in the area dedicated to calm activities — equivalent to a normal conversation.
A green district is dedicated to ecological activities, for sorting waste and gardening with friends, without shouting or running. Supervision by educators is facilitated by the static nature of the pupils’ activities. Stillness favours the detection of offences against property and persons, as well as the identification of isolated pupils, thanks to unobstructed visibility and an attentive ear in the absence of children running and shouting. Moreover, an ostracised pupil, who suffers from the absence of friendships over short or long periods, is predisposed to seek refuge in static districts.
68 dB: sonometric data recorded in the area dedicated to ecological activities — equivalent to a normal conversation.
A purple district is dedicated to artistic activities, for creating, painting and drawing with friends, without shouting or running. Supervision by educators is facilitated by the static nature of the pupils’ activities. Stillness favours the detection of offences against property and persons, as well as the identification of isolated pupils, thanks to unobstructed visibility and an attentive ear in the absence of children running and shouting. Moreover, an ostracised pupil, who suffers from the absence of friendships over short or long periods, is predisposed to seek refuge in static districts.
58 dB: sonometric data recorded in the area dedicated to artistic activities — equivalent to an open window on a quiet street.
A yellow district is dedicated to playful activities, for playing, running and shouting, with various games offered to pupils. Supervision by educators is facilitated by the playful rules of these games. The presence of such rules favours the detection of offences against property and persons, as activities may be disrupted by the negative behaviour of one of the participating pupils. The interruption of a playful activity encourages pupils to alert educators and provokes gatherings likely to draw their attention.
77 dB: sonometric data recorded in the area dedicated to playful activities — equivalent to loud conversations.
An orange district is dedicated to sports activities, for playing, running and shouting, with various sports offered to pupils. Supervision by educators is facilitated by the sporting rules of these activities. The presence of such rules favours the detection of offences against property and persons, as activities may be disrupted by the negative behaviour of one of the participating pupils. The interruption of a sporting activity encourages pupils to alert educators and provokes gatherings likely to draw their attention.
94 dB: sonometric data recorded in the area dedicated to sports activities — equivalent to a power saw.
Since its creation, United by schools has advocated for a voice for children — a voice that is heard and taken into account by local, national, regional and international authorities. Through this programme, United by schools involves students in investigations and in the drafting of reports on human rights violations, which are then submitted to international authorities.
Each year, together with experienced human rights defenders, the organisation trains students enrolled in secondary schools to become young human rights defenders over an eight-month period. The training begins with an introduction to the fundamental principles of human rights, to both regular and parallel diplomacy, and includes simulations and modelling of international conferences.
The learning process then continues with the acquisition of methods for conducting investigations and drafting reports: identifying sources, questioning witnesses and recording their answers, analysing statistical data and preparing recommendations. Until the final publication of the investigations and reports, United by schools prepares them in close collaboration with the students and its confirmed human rights defenders.
After review and revision, United by schools publishes the complete investigations and reports to international authorities. Since 2023, two cohorts have followed one another: the Louise Arbour cohort, with eight reports published and submitted to the experts of the United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child, and the Kofi Annan cohort, with eight reports submitted to the same experts.
Since 2019, United by schools has been leading a genuine form of educational diplomacy, aiming to have positive school climates recognised as a component of the fundamental rights of the child. This educational diplomacy operates through the creation, by the teams of United by schools, of the Committee on School Climates, held at the United Nations Office in Geneva.
A committee composed primarily of students, accompanied by educators, parents and international associations. The majority of votes remain in the hands of the students, who hold the power to approve amendments and adopt resolutions.
In 2019, during the first session of the Committee, fifty students and numerous international organisations gathered in Geneva to present seven thematic advocacy papers: digital, emotions, civil society, arts, public policies, equality and culture. These advocacy efforts led to the adoption in first reading of a Citizens’ Convention for Healthy and Positive School Climates, a strong proposal calling for the recognition of new standards by the Member States of the United Nations.
In 2020, on the occasion of the seventy-fifth anniversary of the United Nations system, the Committee published 24 Goals for Positive School Climates, inspired by the 17 Sustainable Development Goals. These goals became the roadmap guiding the actions of United by schools within the funds, programmes and agencies of the United Nations.
In 2021, during the third session, the Citizens’ Convention was adopted in second reading, consolidating a full reference text drafted entirely by civil society.
In 2022, United by schools submitted an official proposal to establish an International Day of School Climates, in order to anchor this cause permanently within the global calendar.
In 2023, the Committee on School Climates proposed transforming the Citizens’ Convention into an Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child. Indeed, the word “school” does not appear in the 1989 Convention on the Rights of the Child, even though school is a sanctuary where the rights and vulnerabilities of children are exercised every day. The text adopted in 2023, in the form of a “martyr protocol”, calls upon Member States to recognise the right of every child to a positive school climate.
In 2024, exactly five years after the first reading of 2019, United by schools wishes to celebrate the first World Day of School Climates on April 18, to honour the efforts and initiatives promoting healthy and positive school climates.
Over the years, the Committee on School Climates has become a true laboratory of educational diplomacy, demonstrating both the urgent need and the unique opportunity to consult and consider the voice of children — guided by one philosophy: peace begins at school.
On April 18 each year, United by schools invites the world to celebrate the World Day of School Climates.
This initiative, brought to the United Nations, invites students, parents, educators, associations and authorities to reflect on new initiatives to create positive school climates. United by schools recommends that all stakeholders organise conferences and training sessions within schools, and honour the memory of the victims of negative school climates — following armed conflicts, school bullying, mass shootings, or fragile mental health.
Furthermore, United by schools encourages the promotion of local educational innovations aimed at fostering fulfilling schooling experiences for students and creating positive school climates.
Acting against bullying at school lies at the very heart of United by schools. For more than a decade, our organisation has been active at every level to prevent violence among students and to build school climates that are both protective and respectful.
Our team of volunteers enters primary and secondary schools to conduct mediations, listen to students, and assist educational staff in restoring trust and dialogue. Each intervention is based on a pedagogy of kindness, where students learn to understand, to cooperate and to repair.
United by schools designs and distributes practical guides, educational posters and awareness campaigns aimed at teachers, families and students. The organisation also produces educational videos and short audiovisual clips, broadcast on social media and through partner media outlets to raise public awareness.
This toolkit addresses bullying in all its forms — physical, verbal and digital — and emphasises the urgent need to act. Because prevention begins with training, United by schools collaborates with universities and teacher training institutes to prepare future educators to identify, understand and defuse situations of bullying at school.
The organisation works in partnership with ministries of education, local authorities and international organisations to strengthen public policies on prevention. It regularly takes part in national and international conferences, presenting its methodologies and advocating for a comprehensive approach to school violence.
Finally, United by schools acts beyond the classroom. Through its media campaigns, television appearances, press collaborations and social media mobilisation, the organisation helps shift society’s perception of bullying at school. Every message, every testimony, every action aims to transform awareness into collective action.
Guaranteeing human rights at school begins by observing, documenting and defending them. Each year, United by schools trains human rights defenders and accredits them before international authorities such as the United Nations, enabling them to conduct investigations, collect testimonies and draft independent reports on violations of children’s rights around the world.
United by schools is particularly engaged with the Committee on the Rights of the Child, one of the main United Nations treaty bodies responsible for monitoring the implementation of the 1989 Convention on the Rights of the Child. Within this framework, the organisation regularly submits alternative reports designed to complement those prepared by governments and to provide a field-based perspective on the situation of children in schools.
These reports, written by our human rights defenders, document school violence, bullying, discrimination, educational insecurity and violations of students’ dignity. They contribute directly to the Committee’s final observations, which subsequently recommend concrete reforms to the States concerned. United by schools also takes part in the Universal Periodic Review process, a mechanism of the United Nations Human Rights Council that assesses, every four years, the human rights situation in each of the 193 Member States.
The organisation contributes to this process by providing insights on learning conditions, school safety and child protection, ensuring that the right to safe and inclusive education is fully reflected in the international commitments of Member States. When a serious violation is identified — whether involving school violence, structural discrimination or infringements on educational freedom — United by schools works directly with the governments concerned. The goal is to promote constructive resolution: proposing reforms, supporting the training of educational staff, and assisting local authorities in implementing restorative policies.
Finally, United by schools actively participates in the Commission on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice (CCPCJ) in Vienna, a United Nations body responsible for coordinating international policies on security and fundamental rights. Our representatives advocate there for enhanced training of justice professionals on mental health, for better care of young victims, and for the inclusion of school bullying in the International Classification of Crime for Statistical Purposes (ICCS), in order to better measure, compare and prevent it on a global scale.
United by schools is developing a global mapping of the quality of school climates. The objective is to assess, in real time, the educational health of schools across the planet, based on events reported by our human rights defenders and on citizen referrals transmitted directly to our teams.
Events are signals identified in the field by our human rights defenders, such as drug trafficking near a school, rising levels of violence, concerning statistics on youth mental health, community tensions, or discrimination. Referrals, on the other hand, come directly from citizens — students, parents, educators and associations — who alert our teams when they observe human rights violations related to school climates, such as bullying, attacks on dignity, or institutional failings.
Each signal is then studied and verified by an accredited human rights defender from United by schools. For every event or referral, the defender determines a scale of contagion, meaning its perimeter (whether one school or all schools in a city are affected), its duration of impact (two days, two weeks, or two months depending on the gravity and extent of the phenomenon), and its probable evolution (whether the contagion is subsiding, spreading, or stabilising). This methodology, inspired by social and epidemiological sciences, helps to understand how a series of localised circumstances can affect the educational stability of a given geographical area.
Each primary and secondary school is assessed according to an index of school climate quality, updated in real time and divided into four levels. A positive school climate (index between 7 and 10, represented in blue) indicates a stable school, where relationships are peaceful and no signs of tension are observed. A degraded school climate (index between 4 and 6, represented in green) reflects a social or educational fragility: occasional tensions, a sense of insecurity, or communication difficulties may arise. A negative school climate (index between 2 and 3, represented in orange) reveals a worrying situation: violations of well-being or dignity are observed, calling for heightened vigilance.
Finally, a school climate in peril (index between 0 and 1, represented in red) signals a severe crisis requiring immediate intervention from educational and social authorities. This index provides a global and dynamic vision of the health of educational institutions, helping to guide prevention efforts and international cooperation.
Thanks to powerful data warehouses and artificial intelligence tools, the map is updated in real time and is accessible to all — citizens, journalists, institutions and governments. This programme aims to anticipate educational crises, support public decision-making, and make the invisible visible: the quality of the school climates in which the world’s children grow up.
United by schools regularly organises conferences, round tables and public mediations in universities, companies, international institutions and educational establishments. These events, held in several countries and conducted in multiple languages, aim to promote human rights, positive school climates and a culture of social prudence within educational and professional communities.
Each conference is based on close collaboration between the teams of United by schools, the academic world and the field of research. Professors, researchers, students, public decision-makers and representatives of international organisations engage in dialogue on cross-cutting themes such as the prevention of school violence, inclusion, racial equality, educational diplomacy, mental health and youth civic participation.
Beyond the sharing of expertise, these conferences play a vital role in international mediation. They create opportunities for dialogue among actors from diverse backgrounds, bringing local practices closer to international standards, and inspiring educational policies grounded in cooperation, research and mutual understanding.