Wikimedia CH/Community Care

Wikimedia CH and Care

Creating a Safe Space for Knowledge Sharing

Free knowledge thrives when people feel safe to contribute their perspectives and expertise. To better support the volunteers who make Wikipedia and other Wikimedia projects possible, Wikimedia CH offers concrete services to ensure that everyone can participate without fear of discrimination or harassment.

Services

Taking action against unacceptable behaviour

A few years down the line, the Wikimedia Foundation Universal Code of Conduct (UCoC) was created and provides a global baseline of acceptable (art. 2) and unacceptable (art. 3) behaviour for the entire movement. Despite the UCoC, we often witness situations of harassment, legal disputes arising from contributions, hate speech, doxing etc. which can have a very negative impact on the health and well being of targeted individuals. Wikimedia CH will take action and offer services to the Wiki-contributors, association members and staff.

Pilot project : free PsyHotline

In February 2025, Wikimedia CH launched a pilot project in close collaboration with Wikimedia France. French-speaking Wiki contributors, association members and staff living in Switzerland got access to professional psychological support. This confidential service provides:

Professional counselling from experts familiar with the Wikimedia movement
Completely confidential support – no personal information is shared with Wikimedia CH
Flexible communication options after initial contact

Wikimedia CH aims to expand these services to other language communities in the future.

Legal support service in preparation

Beyond the psychological support hotline, Wikimedia CH is developing a support service for community members facing legal challenges related to their contributions. More information will follow soon.

Context

Generally, Care refers to the provision of what is necessary for the health, welfare, maintenance, and protection of someone or something. It speaks of feeling or showing care for, concern about, or attentiveness to other people's needs; but it also speaks of taking reasonable measures to protect, offer counselling and support those in need. In the context of Wikimedia CH, it can be supporting volunteers who are confronted with various situations that threaten their health and well-being.

The Diversity Working Group of the global Wikimedia movement has discussed and evaluated welcoming, safety and inclusion actions within Wikimedia communities, as well as the creation of a universal code of conduct (UCoC). The result of this work is the most important and crucial objective of the third recommendation of the 2030 Movement Strategy: Ensuring safety and inclusion.

A few years down the line, the UCoC was created and provides a global baseline of acceptable (art. 2) and unacceptable (art. 3) behaviour for the entire movement which avoids bias and prejudice, excludes any type of harassment, and help create "a world in which everyone can freely share in the sum of all knowledge ». The Wikimedia Foundation Universal Code of Conduct is one of the consequences of the Duty of care supported by the Wikimedia Foundation [1] honestly, in good faith and with a reasonable amount of diligence and care. The duty of care requires that Board Members act in good faith, on a fully informed basis and in a deliberative manner. It generally requires that Trustees exercise the care of an ordinarily prudent person in similar circumstances.

Despite the UCoC, we often witness situations of harassment, legal disputes arising from contributions, hate speech, doxing etc. which can have a very negative impact on the health and well being of targeted individuals. More generally, contributing to Wikimedia projects can also have negative side effects in case of lack of physical exercise, long sessions in front of a screen, or poor eating habits.