In 2025, Swiss victim assistance centers conducted 55,260 consultations — roughly seven percent more than in the previous year. Twenty-eight percent of these concerned sexual offenses, and just under three-quarters of consultations involved female victims. In the same year, 7.3 million francs were paid out: approximately one million as compensation, 6.3 million as reparation, a total of ten percent more than in the previous year. These are remarkable figures.
And yet: If you work in a salon, on tour, or in a private apartment and experience a boundary violation there, you typically think of two things — police or nothing. That a separate procedure exists alongside this, which operates independently of any criminal complaint, has its own benefits, and its own deadline, is little known even among people with long experience in the industry.
This article deals with exactly this second track. And with the uncomfortable asymmetry embedded in it: For criminal charges in serious sexual offenses, fifteen years remain available. For money from the Victim Assistance Act, only five.
The Second Track: What the Victim Assistance Act Actually Is
The Federal Act on Assistance to Victims of Crimes (OHG, SR 312.5) is neither criminal law nor liability law. It is social law. It has been in force since 1993, underwent a complete revision in 2007, and operates on a simple basic principle: Anyone whose physical, psychological, or sexual integrity has been directly impaired by a criminal offense has a right to assistance — from the state, not from the perpetrator.
Three points about this are decisive for the sex work industry, and all three are regularly misunderstood:
First: No criminal complaint is required. The victim status under the OHG does not depend on whether criminal proceedings have been opened, whether the perpetrator could be identified, or whether there is ever a conviction. Counseling, emergency assistance, and even reparation are not tied to filing a complaint.
Second: Residence status is irrelevant to the claim. What matters is where the crime occurred, not where the affected person is registered. If the criminal offense was committed in Switzerland, the claim exists — regardless of nationality and place of residence. The flip side: For crimes abroad, persons with residence in Switzerland have access to counseling and assistance from the counseling centers, but not compensation and reparation. For everyone who works in the tour model across borders, this is an important distinction to know beforehand, not afterward.
Third: Victim assistance counseling centers are subject to their own duty of confidentiality. Staff at a victim assistance counseling center must keep confidential everything they learn — both toward authorities and private parties — even after employment ends. This duty is only lifted with the consent of the person being counseled. Counseling is also explicitly possible anonymously. Someone working without regulated residence can thus consult a counseling center without that automatically triggering a report to the migration authority. Important and to be honest: For a request for money, this no longer applies — a request for compensation or reparation cannot be submitted anonymously.
Who Counts as a Victim — and Who Doesn’t
The OHG covers offenses against life and limb, against sexual integrity, and against freedom. For the industry, the most relevant are: bodily injury and physical assault, threats and coercion, false imprisonment, robbery, sexual offenses under Articles 187 ff. of the Criminal Code, human trafficking (Art. 182 StGB), and the promotion of prostitution under Article 195 of the Criminal Code, if an exploitation situation arises.
What does not fall under it is equally important: A pure property crime does not establish victim status. If a client does not pay or money disappears from a wallet, that is annoying, punishable — but not a victim assistance case. If, however, violence is used or threatened, the same situation transforms into robbery and thus into the OHG. Damage to property is also generally not covered by victim assistance; the law concerns itself with personal injury and its consequences.
Since July 1, 2024, the revised sexual criminal law has been in effect. The concept of rape was broadened, and with the principle „No means no,“ it is also punishable if it occurs against a will expressed through words, gestures, or by freezing. 2025 was the first complete statistical year under the new law: 1,402 reported rapes compared to 1,086 in the previous year, a rise of 29 percent. Experts read into this not more crimes, but less tolerance and greater willingness to report.
For sex workers, this results in a clarification that has not yet reached everyone in practice: A paid booking is not blanket consent. What goes beyond what was agreed or happens against a clearly expressed will is a criminal offense — and establishes victim status. The Federal Court has moreover held that prostitution is a „socially normal and permissible activity“ and that income earned thereby must be protected by criminal law. This sentence is more than symbolism: It is the foundation for recognizing loss of earnings from sex work as compensable damage at all.
The Five Benefits — and Which Ones Are Money
The OHG provides graduated benefits. They are frequently lumped together, even though they have quite different prerequisites.
Counseling and Emergency Assistance: Free, Immediate, Income-Independent
Counseling and emergency assistance from counseling centers are free for affected persons and relatives. Period. No income verification, no complaint, no waiting period. Emergency assistance covers the most urgent needs and includes medical, psychological, social, material, and legal assistance — this also includes emergency housing, interpreter costs, and the first hours of legal counsel.
This component has the lowest threshold and is most underestimated. Nobody has to decide whether to file a complaint before calling.
Cost Contributions for Longer-Term Help from Third Parties
When needs go beyond emergency assistance — psychotherapy over months, legal representation through an entire proceeding — cost contributions for services from third parties come into play. Here, the financial situation is examined. The cantons calculate using the rates that apply for official mandates in criminal proceedings; in the Canton of Zurich, the recognized attorney hourly rate is currently 220 francs plus value-added tax. If free legal assistance has already been granted, victim assistance does not pay additionally.
Compensation: Economic Damage Only, and Subsidiary
Compensation covers economic damage — loss of earnings, healing costs, maintenance obligations, funeral costs. Two filters make it the most difficult benefit in practice.
The first is subsidiarity: Victim assistance pays only when the perpetrator, private insurances, and social insurances provide nothing or not enough. The second is the income threshold. It is calculated using eligible income according to the rules of supplementary benefits — earned income is counted only at two-thirds. If eligible income is below the supplementary benefits limit, the damage is fully reimbursed; in between, on a degressive basis; above four times the limit, no compensation is available. There is also a statutory maximum amount.
For self-employed people with cash businesses, proof is the real problem. Loss of earnings must be documented, and the authority relies on what exists: AHV statements, tax assessments, accounting records, appointment calendars, platform statistics. Anyone who does not keep any of this for years does not lose the right to claim, but the ability to prove it — and thus factually the money. This is another, very unglamorous argument for proper self-documentation.
Little known: The OHG allows an advance on compensation if the eligibility requirements are not yet definitively clear, but urgent need exists. Hardly anyone asks about this.
Reparation: Income-Independent — Yet Capped
Reparation is the most interesting benefit because it does not depend on financial circumstances. It compensates for emotional suffering in the case of serious impairment.
Since January 1, 2025, the maximum amounts are 76,000 francs for victims and 38,000 francs for relatives — previously 70,000 and 35,000 respectively. Adjustment was made for inflation of 8.3 percent. The Federal Office of Justice published the third edition of its guidelines for assessing reparation under the OHG in December 2024; the ranges for impairment of sexual integrity were generally increased.
Expectations nonetheless need calibration. OHG reparation is deliberately set lower than civil reparation that a court awards against the perpetrator. Anyone who receives 20,000 francs in a criminal judgment and gets a fraction from victim assistance often experiences this as a diminishment of their own suffering. Attorneys and cantonal victim assistance centers have been criticizing the amounts in sexual offenses for years — publicly and by name.
Even more troubling is the second issue: Benefits can be reduced if the authority assumes contributory negligence. The OHG for this refers to the rules of liability law. The prerequisite would be that the affected person clearly failed to exercise the care required in their own interest and could have foreseen the harm. In practice, cases have been documented where rape victims were attributed contributory fault and assistance was reduced — for example because someone had gotten into a car. For sex workers, the danger is obvious: that the profession itself could be read as contributory negligence. This is precisely where legal representation in the victim assistance proceeding is worthwhile — the costs of which victim assistance itself can help cover.
Exemption from Proceeding Costs
Proceedings before the cantonal victim assistance authority are free for the person filing the request. That too is in the law and is rarely mentioned.
The Deadline That Expires While You’re Still Thinking
Now to the crux. Requests for compensation and reparation must be submitted within five years of the offense or from the time the offense became known. After that, the claim is forfeited. For children and adolescents who have suffered a serious criminal offense, the deadline runs until their 25th birthday.
Forfeiture is harsher than expiration: It allows no interruption, no suspension, no subsequent cure. And it runs while criminal proceedings have not even begun. For serious sexual offenses, the criminal prosecution expiration period is fifteen years — so if someone decides to file a complaint after eight years, they are timely under criminal law and too late under victim assistance law. That the deadline calculation is not trivial is shown by the fact that appellate courts — for example in Thurgau — have had to deal with the question of when the deadline even begins to run.
The practical consequence is unspectacular, but it determines five-figure amounts: The request should be submitted before the criminal proceeding is concluded. You do not have to wait for a judgment. A timely filed request can be suspended until the facts become clearer. Conversely, if you first wait for the judgment, you risk standing before a forfeited deadline with a final guilty verdict in hand.
The authority responsible is that of the canton where the offense was committed — not the canton of residence. In a tour through multiple cantons, the place of offense is therefore decisive, and cantonal offerings differ significantly in accessibility and density; how different this looks in everyday life is shown by looking at the counseling landscape in a small canton.
Rights in Criminal Proceedings That You Must Claim
If you decide to file a complaint, you have rights in the Criminal Procedure Code that are not automatically offered but granted upon request:
- Victims of crimes against sexual integrity can demand to be questioned by a person of the same gender.
- They may be accompanied by a freely chosen trusted person – during their own questioning, during questioning of the accused person, and in court.
- A confrontation with the accused person may only be ordered against the victim’s will if the right to be heard cannot otherwise be guaranteed.
- Upon request, the court hearing the case must include at least one person of the same gender as the victim.
Additionally, the police must inform victims about victim assistance at the first questioning and – with consent – forward their data to a counseling center.
What’s Actually New in 2026
The number 142. As of May 1, 2026, victim assistance is available throughout Switzerland via the short number 142: free of charge, confidential, around the clock, according to uniform standards, and regardless of whether a report was filed or the perpetrator is known. Family members and close persons can also call. Important: 142 is not an emergency number – in case of acute danger, call 117 or 144.
For a sector where critical hours fall between 10 p.m. and 4 a.m., a staffed number at night is not a minor detail but a structural change. That accessibility in the dark was already the core problem of cantonal services before the national number became clear.
The partial revision of the Victim Assistance Act. On October 22, 2025, the Federal Council passed the message for a partial revision of the Victim Assistance Act. The National Council adopted it on June 2026 with 139 to 55 votes; in the Council of States, the matter is scheduled for the autumn session 2026 (September 14 to October 2). As of the end of September 2026, the revision is not yet complete.
Content-wise, it targets three points directly relevant to the sex work industry: Victims of domestic and sexual violence should be able to contact a hospital or other institution around the clock and receive specialized medical first aid there. Forensic medical documentation of injuries and traces should be free of charge – explicitly regardless of whether the affected person wants to file a report or not. And an information obligation for the cantons should ensure that services are actually known and easily accessible.
The second point is the strongest. Secured traces keep the option open without having to decide on the night of the incident. That’s exactly what fits the reality that many affected persons need months – and the five-year deadline that continues to run during that time.
The international review. The expert group GREVIO visited Switzerland from March 9 to 13, 2026, to evaluate the implementation of the Istanbul Convention; topics included victim assistance, protective measures, and prosecution. The report is expected in November 2026, new recommendations by the end of 2026. Whether and how clearly the access of particularly exposed groups appears in it remains to be seen.
Funding for specialist centers. The Zurich City Council requested in September 2026 contributions for 2027 to 2030: for FIZ Specialist Center for Women Trafficking and Women Migration up to 266,600 francs annually, including migrant women’s counseling and victim assistance for human trafficking; for Isla Victoria up to 339,652 francs annually, consisting of 304,000 francs in service contributions and 35,652 francs in rent reductions. Isla Victoria operates a low-threshold contact point with social counseling and outreach work in salons and increasingly in the digital space. Such specialist centers are the only way for many to access victim assistance claims at all.
Human Trafficking: Its Own Path
If there is reasonable suspicion of human trafficking, foreign law applies additionally. The reflection and recovery period of at least 30 days is intended to allow affected persons without regulated residence to recover, inform themselves about their legal situation, and calmly decide whether to participate in criminal proceedings. If investigations are initiated and the person is willing to cooperate, a limited short-term residence permit can be issued for the duration of the proceedings.
This is not automatic and not a right to stay. But it is the opposite of what many fear: not an immediate expulsion decision, but a period for reflection.
The Sequence That Works
Without claiming completeness, but proven in practice:
- Safety first. In case of acute danger call 117 or 144.
- Document traces and injuries – medically, ideally forensically, even without a decision to report. Photos with dates, messages, booking data, names of witnesses.
- Call 142 or contact a counseling center directly. Free, confidential, anonymous if desired. Interpretation is part of the service.
- Note the five-year deadline – as a date, not as a feeling.
- Request legal representation early, whose costs victim assistance can help cover. Especially if reduced liability is threatened, this makes the difference.
- File the application in the crime canton before the criminal proceedings are complete. Postponement is possible, forfeiture is not recoverable.
- Clarify subsidiary responsibility: What does health insurance, accident insurance, disability insurance, or the perpetrator pay? Only then does victim assistance compensation apply.
What the Victim Assistance Act Is Not
An honest assessment is part of it. The Victim Assistance Act is not full compensation. It does not replace property damage, does not cover pure property crimes, only pays compensation after income testing and satisfaction only in capped, deliberately low amounts. It also does not replace insurance – a sick leave solution and proper AHV registration often accomplish more in an emergency.
But it is the only claim in this field that does not depend on a report, not on a conviction, and not on residency status. It exists, it is enforceable, and it is paid out millions of times annually – just not to everyone who would be entitled to it.
The 55,260 consultations from 2025 are a good number. The more interesting number is unknown: how many claims expired in the same year because five years passed while someone was still wondering whether what happened even counts.