Swiss Social Democrats launch initiative to combat violence against women

Switzerland’s Social Democratic Party (SP) has unanimously approved launching an initiative to strengthen protection against violence against women, SRF reported. The proposal calls for at least 500 million Swiss francs in additional annual funding to prevent gender-based violence and improve cooperation between the federal government, cantons and specialist agencies.

The SP says the support available to victims depends too heavily on where they live and that efforts to tackle gender-based violence are making little progress. It cited 27 women killed in Switzerland in 2025 and 18 so far this year, saying these killings were only the tip of the iceberg. The party also pointed to rape, assaults, humiliation and discrimination.

SP parliamentarian Tamara Funiciello said women in Switzerland experience violence every day while politicians look on. “Protection costs money, but violence costs lives,” she said.

At the party congress in Thun, SP co-president Mattea Meyer accused the Swiss People’s Party (SVP) of having a structural problem with violence. She criticised what she called the authoritarian behaviour of senior SVP figures and accused the party of ignoring suspected perpetrators within its own ranks.

Federal Councillor Beat Jans urged men not to look away or remain silent. He said men were responsible for 94 percent of serious violent and sexual offences, and that victims of killings in intimate relationships were almost always women. Domestic violence was not a private matter, he said, but a responsibility for the state and society. Protection should not depend on a victim’s canton or the services available there.

Jans also called for greater cooperation with neighbouring countries to address threats to infrastructure and democracy, including cyberattacks. “We are not part of the EU, but we are part of Europe,” he said, adding that the government wanted to secure and develop Switzerland’s bilateral relationship with the EU.

Jans also pointed to movement in parliament on a partial revision of the Victim Support Act and a framework law against domestic violence called for by the National Council. The SP initiative, he said, would keep up the pressure.