Commemorated every November 19, the World Day for the Prevention of Child Abuse is an awareness campaign aiming to promote child protection worldwide. In accordance with this global trend, Child Welfare League Foundation (CWLF) held the No Hit Zone campaign kick-off press conference on November 13, 2023. Together with its like-minded partners all over Taiwan, CWLF is calling for creating a violence-free environment for everyone, especially children.

The goal of the No Hit Zone (NHZ) movement is to create a safe and caring environment for children, families, and staff present in every location and facility. The four basic tenets are: no adult shall hit a child; no adult shall hit another adult; no child shall hit another child; and no child shall hit an adult. With extensive expertise in child and family services and child right advocacy, CWLF has become the first certified NHZ advocate in East Asia, playing a leading role for the promotion of the NHZ movement as a resource center in Taiwan. Inspired by the NHZ movement across the globe, CWLF has launched a series of initiatives within the organization itself, including establishing a NHZ project team, formulating the "Child Safety Code" as a common code of conduct for all staff members, posting NHZ signs in service locations, publishing a non-violent parenting handbook, organizing staff training courses about NHZ, and holding awareness-raising activities. CWLF is committed to getting more people involved in the NHZ movement and providing support and resources to assist in the establishment and development of all the NHZs in Taiwan.

CWLF held the NHZ campaign kick-off press conference on November 13, 2023, releasing the survey report on violence in public space. As the survey results showed, 87.9% of people had experiences witnessing adults hitting/scolding children in public places such as restaurants, streets, parks, playgrounds, and campus. “These are supposed to be places where children feel safe and protected, but violent incidents occur, causing negative impact not only on the children directly involved but also those who witness such violent behavior,” said Li-Fang Pai, the CEO of CWLF. Furthermore, despite being concerned about violent incidents in public places, many people do not know how to respond. This highlights the importance of establishing a NHZ, where relevant signs, policies, and resources are made public and accessible so that everyone is clearly reminded that this is a non-violent environment and can get support needed.

Soon after CWLF announced the NHZ campaign, many like-minded partners, including government agencies, medical institutions, chain companies, and community organizations, actively joined in, with a total of over 1,000 locations. In the press conference, these NHZ partners shared their observations about interpersonal conflicts and violence that happened in public places, emphasizing the importance of creating more NHZs in Taiwan.

CWLF urges government agencies, medical institutions, companies, local communities/organizations and any like-minded facilities to join in the NHZ movement. There is a variety of information and resources available on CWLF’s NHZ campaign website (https://nohitzone.org.tw/), such as positive parenting handouts, sample policies, and articles about the NHZ approach. In addition, well-designed NHZ signs and online staff training courses will be provided for places that sign up to become NHZs.

It requires the collective efforts of everyone to create and sustain a violence-free environment. With the mission to nurture children’s healthy development, CWLF is making an appeal to the society to implement NHZ policies and practices in the hope that in the near future, there will be more and more NHZs in Taiwan and all over the world.