Guide aims to boost support for immigrant women violence victims
Women victims of violence are unable to seek help unless they understand Finnish and know where to get assistance. This is one of the points stressed in a new guidebook published by the MSAH in mid-August on social and health sector support for immigrant women facing violent abuse.
Help for immigrant women victims of violence must involve the police, justice and labour authorities and immigrant organisations in addition to social and healthcare workers, the guidebook explains.
It is intended to help social health sector workers spot cases of violence against their clients which are related to their cultural domestic setting, such as honour-related violence, forced marriages, genital mutilation, or else discrimination and racist violence. Women and girl immigrants have also often faced violence before coming to Finland, such as in war and violent conflict or as victims of human trafficking.
The extent to which victims need special help often depends on how well they have adapted and integrated into Finnish life - the less they have, the less likely they are to know how to seek help or to know their rights.
The guidebook has been produced in cooperation with the Ministry of Labour and the Monika Women’s Resource Centre.