Swiss campaign launched against violence in parenting

Child Protection Switzerland launches campaign against violence in parenting. (Symbolic image) Keystone-SDA

Despite progress, violence in parenting remains a social problem. The organisation Child Protection Switzerland is launching the eighth and final phase of its national prevention campaign on Monday.

+Get the most important news from Switzerland in your inbox

In this phase of the national campaign, the focus is on alternative action: “Before you blow up, get some fresh air,” according to a statement from the organisation. Fresh air helps when the situation at home becomes “explosive” and threatens to escalate.

Violence against children is often caused by excessive demands and stress in everyday life. A short break in the fresh air can help to calm them down, the statement said.

In order to be aware of such alternative courses of action, prevention remains important despite being enshrined in law, according to the organisation. On September 9, parliament spoke out in favour of anchoring non-violent parenting in the Swiss Civil Code.

Half of children experience violence

Almost every second child in Switzerland experiences physical or psychological violence in their upbringing, and every fifth child in Switzerland regularly experiences psychological violence; 7% of all children are also regularly punished physically. This was revealed in a study presented by Child Protection Switzerland in November 2024.

+ Almost half of children in Switzerland experience domestic violence

According to the organisation, these figures underline how important prevention and support services for parents and guardians remain, even after they have been enshrined in law.

Child Protection Switzerland says it is an independent, donor-funded organisation. The national awareness-raising campaigns over eight years could only have been realised thanks to the support of donors and partners, it said.

Now that the organisation has been enshrined in law, however, it is clear that the responsibility for sustainable prevention lies with the federal government and the cantons, it said. Regula Bernhard Hug, director of Child Protection Switzerland, called on them to provide concrete support services for parents and professionals, from prevention to counselling.

Translated from German by DeepL/ts

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]