Abuse and reappraisal – can the Swiss model be an example for Europe?

© Simone Padovani

A conference of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe in Strasbourg is calling for an end to child abuse in institutions, drawing inspiration from Switzerland’s experiences.

In January 2024, the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) adopted Resolution 2533 on the recognition of child abuse in state, private and church institutions throughout Europe. To support member states in handling these complex problems, the PACE Committee on Social Affairs, Health and Sustainable Development held an international conference on this topic in Strasbourg on 6 December 2024 in collaboration with the Swiss delegation to PACE and the Guido Fluri Foundation.

As an invited speaker, Alexander Grob, President of the NRP 76 Steering Committee, emphasised the importance of scientific reappraisal: “The state is demonstrating to its citizens that it assumes its share of the responsibility for practices that were – from a modern perspective and in many cases also at the time – unjustified.”

The conference on child abuse in institutions provided an opportunity to take stock of the situation in Europe. It put particular focus on the implementation of the resolution by the member states and the associated challenges. During the event, the participating parliamentarians, representatives of governments and authorities as well as representatives of NGOs and higher education institutions considered a number of sub-topics. The conference was supported by the Justice Initiative, which was launched by the Guido Fluri Foundation together with victims’ groups from across Europe. This political initiative aims to comprehensively reappraise the abuse of children in all European countries for the first time.