A milestone for children in Switzerland – non-violent parenting is enshrined in law

On September 26, 2025, both chambers of the Parliament approved the inclusion of non-violent parenting in Swiss law. The Federal Council will decide at the beginning of 2026 when exactly the new law will take effect. One thing is certain: the milestone has finally been reached!

From 2026 onwards, slaps, hits, or severe verbal humiliation will no longer be considered acceptable disciplinary methods but rather acts of violence. The legal ambiguity surrounding what forms of discipline are permissible will finally be eliminated.

Non-violent parenting as the new norm

With the new law, non-violent parenting becomes the norm. Any deviation from this standard calls for attention. Addressed to parents and guardians, the new law states:

“In particular, they must raise their children without the use of violence, namely without physical punishment and other forms of degrading treatment.” (our own translation)

It is important that psychological violence is also included, as this form of violence is more common in Switzerland than physical violence. And although the law primarily addresses parents, the Federal Council made it clear during the debate in Parliament that the principle of non-violent upbringing also applies to anyone who assumes custody of a child on behalf of the parents.

Guidance for parents and support when things get difficult

Many parents still use violence in their parenting—not out of conviction, but in moments of exhaustion or being overwhelmed. This is where the new law comes in: it aims to strengthen prevention and improve easy access to counselling and support services for children and parents. The cantons (“states”) are now required to ensure access to counselling services. Today, not all parts of Switzerland offer parents and children equal access to such services.

A long political journey

Remarkably, the larger parliamentary chamber already said a clear yes to a ban on violence in parenting back in 1992 — some 33 years ago. However, the second chamber rejected the binding proposal at that time. In the following decades, numerous unsuccessful attempts were made to achieve this goal through political means. It was a motion from 2019 that finally led to success. It took long-standing civil society commitment to bring about the necessary societal and political shift in attitude.

For a long time, it was widely believed that parenting was purely a private matter and that the state should not interfere. Child Protection Switzerland, one of the leading voices for non-violent parenting, has always made its position clear:

“Parenting is a private matter – violence against children is not.”

Awareness-raising is still needed

The law alone is not enough. As the Federal Council emphasized, the legal establishment of non-violent parenting must be accompanied by awareness-raising campaigns that inform parents about the child’s right to a non-violent upbringing and demonstrate positive, non-violent parenting methods.

In the future, such campaigns should be funded by the state rather than left to civil society to finance. The responsibility for sustainable prevention lies with the federal government and the cantons. Civil society’s role will be to remind them of this responsibility. Meanwhile, professional associations working with children and young people are currently working intensively to adapt their guidelines and tools for advising parents and children to the new legal situation.

We are very grateful to Child Protection Switzerland for drafting this account of the law reform.

With this law reform, Switzerland becomes the 70th state worldwide to realise children’s rights to protection from all violent punishment.

We applaud this landmark progress for children and warmly welcome the implementation measures planned by the Government and its partners to put the law into practice! 

Together, the prohibition of corporal punishment and its implementation will enable Switzerland to make significant progress in eliminating all forms of violence against children in whatever context they occur.

With a child population of 1,545,000, prohibition in Switzerland brings the total number of children worldwide protected by law from corporal punishment to approximately 347 million, or 15% of the global child population.

But many children around the world are still waiting to be protected from legalized violence. Considering the global commitment to ending all violence against children in the context of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, we call on all remaining governments to enact prohibition as a matter of priority.

Find out more:

• Read our country report for Switzerland.
• Read about progress towards universal prohibition of corporal punishment in Europe.
• Read our guide to putting prohibition of corporal punishment into practice.