Draft:The Blue Tree Foundation


The Blue Tree Foundation(BTF), based in South Korea, is an NGO for youth established in 1995 by a father who lost his 16-year-old son to school bullying in the hope that there will never be a father like himself again.[1]. The father, who founded the foundation, Kim Jong-ki, made school bullying public as a social structural problem rather than an individual problem and led a 470,000-citizen signature campaign to create measures to prevent school bullying, which later contributed to the enactment of the Act on the Prevention of and Countermeasures Against Violence in Schools in 2004.

The foundation also established and operates National School Violence Helpline (1588-9128) to support victims, conducts National Research on School & Cyberbullying[2] and related research to develop policies necessary to solve school bullying problems, by proposing and disseminating field programs.

Under the mission of "creating a peaceful world where youth can dream of hope,[3]" the foundation carries out three core activities: counseling and healing, preventive education, and social change. It counsels over 10,000 school bullying related cases annually[4] and provides scholarships to victims and children in need through the Daehyun Scholarship[5], named after founder Kim's son.

The foundation was granted a special consultation position by the UN Economic and Social Council in 2009. Recently, it attended the plenary session for United Nations Commission for Social Development and hosted a side event at the UN Headquarters about “Achieving Digital Well-being and Addressing Digital Inequality for Sustainable Employment and Decent Work of Youth” in 2023[6]

Super Junior's Kim Hee-chul[7] and TEEN TOP[8] was appointed as promotional ambassadors.

References

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  1. ^ The Blue Tree Foundation Official Website. "Introduction of the Foundation".
  2. ^ The Blue Tree Foundation Official Website. "Youth Business·Counseling".
  3. ^ The Blue Tree Foundation Official Website. "Introduction of the Foundation".
  4. ^ The Blue Tree Foundation Official NAVER Blog. "BTF Holds National Research on School & Cyberbullying Press Conference to Announce Fact-finding Survey and Countermeasures".
  5. ^ The Blue Tree Foundation Official Website. "DaeHyun Scholarship".
  6. ^ Jung-youn, Lee (2023-02-16). "Blue Tree Foundation calls for anti-cyberbullying measures at UN side event". The Korea Herald. Retrieved 2023-12-22.
  7. ^ Yoon, Solim. "Super Junior's Heechul appointed ambassador for school bullying prevention and recovery".
  8. ^ Dani-Dee. "TEEN TOP selected as promotional ambassadors for the Blue Tree Foundation's anti-cyberbullying campaign".

Category:Youth Category:School violence