Seoul City Launches First Dedicated Counseling Center for Migrant Women Victims of Violence

Providing specialized services such as native language counseling, temporary protection, medical and legal support for migrant women victims of violence
Activities of migrant women counselors and interpretation/translation support teams

Namseoul Migrant Women Counseling Center Interview Counseling Room

[Asia Economy Reporter Lim Cheol-young] The Seoul Metropolitan Government is operating the "Counseling Center for Migrant Women Victims of Violence," which provides professional counseling and systematic support services such as medical and legal assistance for migrant women who have suffered violence.

On the 6th, Seoul announced that it has established the Namseoul Migrant Women Counseling Center, a specialized counseling institution for migrant women victims of violence in Dongjak-gu, and has started telephone and in-person counseling. The Namseoul Migrant Women Counseling Center was specially established with budget support from the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family and the Seoul Metropolitan Government to provide counseling, medical, and legal services tailored to the characteristics of migrant women victims of domestic violence, sexual violence, and other forms of violence.

Until now, Seoul has provided initial counseling and information services to migrant women victims of violence through migrant women counseling centers, Danuri Call Centers, domestic violence counseling centers, and protection facilities for migrant women victims of violence, but there were difficulties due to a lack of specialized counseling personnel for migrant women.

The Namseoul Migrant Women Counseling Center employs counselors who are themselves migrant women and has a "Translation and Interpretation Support Team" to provide customized counseling in the native languages of migrant women for the complex issues they face after experiencing violence, such as psychological and emotional trauma and instability in daily life and residency. In cases requiring urgent protection, temporary shelter, medical, and legal services are provided.

The counseling center is available to any migrant woman currently residing in Korea. Women without a foreign registration card can also use the services.

Kim Ki-hyun, Acting Director of the Seoul Metropolitan Government’s Women and Family Policy Office, said, "With the opening of this counseling center, migrant women in Seoul and the metropolitan area can receive professional counseling, as well as translation, medical, and legal linkage services in their native languages more quickly and systematically. We will continue to develop and support necessary policies so that migrant women can live happily as members of our society."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.