Domestic violence hotline in Zurich sees strong demand

Zurich hotline for victims of violence is "actively used" Keystone-SDA

Zurich’s hotline for victims of violence is being “well used”, according to the Cantonal Justice Director Jacqueline Fehr. Demand is particularly high at night, she told the Tamedia group.

+ Get the most important news from Switzerland in your inbox

“Many women then go on to seek help,” Fehr said in the interview, published on Wednesday. The telephone service has been run by Victim Counselling Zurich since November 1, 2025.

Zurich’s hotline number, 044 455 21 42, is not yet a short‑dial number of the kind planned nationwide. Fehr has also been lobbying for a nationwide hotline at federal level.

“When it was announced last autumn that the launch would be delayed yet again, I was furious,” she said. She wrote to all three federal councillors responsible and has since been receiving monthly updates from Swisscom on the project’s progress.

+ Swiss launch first national campaign against domestic violenceExternal link

Fehr said she was confident the national hotline, using the number 142, would be up and running in May, as scheduled.

“What particularly annoys me is that this keeps happening: unless you take a very firm line, the authorities tend to push domestic violence down the list of priorities,” said Fehr.

For her, the issue should be at the very top of the agenda. “More people in this country are killed as a result of domestic violence than by any other form of homicide.”

Shortage of places in women’s shelters

Another issue testing her patience is the shortage of places in women’s shelters, Fehr said. “40% of shelter places in canton Zurich are still taken up by women and children from other cantons,” she said. That leaves too few places for Zurich’s own population. According to the justice director, discussions are under way to address the problem.

Some neighbouring cantons argue that they are too small to ensure the level of discretion required for a women’s shelter, she said. Fehr is calling on those cantons to cover the full cost of the places they use. That, she said, would allow Zurich to provide more beds.

“I’m pleased that people in canton Thurgau are now pressing their government to act,” Fehr said. She also welcomed the fact that the partial revision of the Victim Assistance Act includes provisions for shelter places.

Several organisations say a woman or girl is killed by a close relative every two weeks in Switzerland. The federal authorities have described the number of serious violent offences against women as alarming.

Last autumn, together with the cantons and non‑governmental organisations, they launched a prevention campaign under the slogan “Equality prevents violence”. The campaign aims to curb domestic violence, sexual violence and gender‑based attacks.

Translated from German by AI/sp

How we work

We select the most relevant news for an international audience and use automatic translation tools to translate them into English. A journalist then reviews the translation for clarity and accuracy before publication.  

Providing you with automatically translated news gives us the time to write more in-depth articles. The news stories we select have been written and carefully fact-checked by an external editorial team from news agencies such as Bloomberg or Keystone.

If you have any questions about how we work, write to us at [e-mail]