Supporting Survivors of Domestic Abuse among South Asians in Ireland: A Pathway Project Report (2022-2026)

Many South Asian immigrant women are not aware of their legal rights in Ireland or of the services available to them. This reflects a more general trend among migrant and non-migrant women. 

A 2023 study by MOVE Ireland found that 74% of women supported by the organisation had never engaged with formal services before. Awareness campaigns exist, but they are mostly in English and Irish, further limiting their reach to individuals who might have a low level of read and spoken English. 

Beliefs around what constitutes abuse is wide ranging, and if coming from countries where laws against marital rape and coercive control are absent, survivors are often unaware of the support available to them,.

In some cases, limited English proficiency makes it difficult for survivors to seek help, navigate legal systems, or understand their rights. While some NGOs provide interpretation and multi-language support, access to these services remains uneven, leaving many survivors without adequate assistance.

However, due to the nature of critical skills visas and student visas accessible to South Asians, most South Asians currently living in Ireland are highly educated or seeking postgraduate education, have access to well paying jobs (for example in the healthcare sector or technology sector) and are fluent in English. In these instances, while language is not a barrier in communication, it can be a source of comfort to be able to speak in their own language at life changing moments. 

Several interviews highlighted the low levels of cultural and linguistic diversity within DSGBV services. Survivors often do not see staff who understand their background, for example the social prejudices around caste, inter-caste or inter-religious marriages, which can create mistrust or discourage them from engaging. For South Asian women, this lack of representation can deepen feelings of isolation and make access to support services more difficult. 

The South Asian communities encompass many different faiths, which can be a source of both strength and pressure. Survivors may draw on religious communities for support, but may also fear judgement or pressure. Responders should respect faith practices while ensuring safety and autonomy.

Migrant communities can be close-knit, with strong ties through family, friendship, and faith. Caste and class hierarchies are often easily replicated, and these networks can sometimes discourage survivors from speaking out, due to fear of shame, or exclusion. At the same time, trusted community figures can act as vital bridges to services when engaged in the right way.

Visa and residency status can heighten survivors’ fear of coming forward, particularly for women on dependent visas. Concerns about child custody and family separation were also repeatedly raised in interviews, and researchers came across cases where survivors were misinformed by friends and family members. These vulnerabilities reduce reporting and trust in authorities.

The ongoing housing crisis disproportionately affects migrant communities, and increases vulnerability to DV. 

In interviews with a researcher examining access to housing among members of the South Asian community, a key barrier identified was access to safe and well-resourced neighbourhoods. Due to lower income levels, many families are constrained to more affordable suburban areas, which may offer fewer services and, in some cases, lower levels of safety and security. For survivors, living in insecure accommodations can leave feeling isolated and with limited options to leave abusive situations. The absence of safe and affordable housing is a significant barrier to seeking support. 

Addressing DV must therefore be linked with a housing policy, as secure and safe accommodation is essential for safety and recovery. 

Service providers should avoid assuming that survivors are fluent in English or fully comfortable discussing sensitive issues in a second language. At the first point of contact, service providers should check whether interpretation is needed, and clearly explain whether language support is available. This helps reduce misunderstandings, ensure informed consent, and allow survivors to communicate their needs safely and confidently.

Several interviews highlighted concerns about the practice of using a family member to interpret in situations involving DV. This can seriously compromise confidentiality and safety. Survivors may feel unable to speak openly, particularly if the interpreter is connected with the same community or family networks. For these reasons, ensuring access to professional interpretation is a key element of safe and equitable service provision. 

Some practitioners noted that, particularly in smaller towns and tight-knit communities, survivors might hesitate to come forward due to fear of gossip or stigma and isolation. In some cases, survivors preferred seeking support outside of their town or community, where they felt a greater sense of anonymity and safety.

While community networks can provide valuable support and information, they can also act as barriers to disclosure. For this reason, it is essential that services clearly and proactively explain their confidentiality policies. Survivors should be informed, in accessible language, about how their information is handled. Introducing mandatory standards for the use of professional interpreters across all DV services would help ensure confidentiality, quality, and consistent practice.

The needs of migrant survivors are very different, depending on their legal status. Several migrant survivors are in Ireland on spousal or dependent visas and may falsely believe that leaving an abusive relationship will result in the loss of their immigration status. 

A lack of awareness with regards to their legal rights can create significant anxiety and act as a barrier to seeking help. In multiple interviews, practitioners highlighted that uncertainty about residency, legal status, and interaction with authorities can keep survivors in abusive situations.

These fears are frequently linked not to actual legal risks, but to limited access to clear and accessible information about immigration protection and rights. Accessible straightforward, plain-language explanation of survivors’ rights, and ensuring that this information is available in languages commonly spoken within migrant communities, is therefore essential. Services should ensure that accurate and plain-language information is shared. 

“He used to tell me that since I have retracted my case of domestic violence from Dolphin House once before, social workers will not believe me anymore. They will report me to Tusla and take away my children.” Tara, survivor.     

Interviews with service practitioners, researchers and community leaders highlighted the importance of understanding the key role of the community and how it can influence survivors’ decisions. Migrants’ first points of contact are often shared spaces such as places of worship, community centres, community-run shops. These settings are central to social life and information-sharing, and are often the places where migrants build networks, seek advice, and learn about their rights.

Close community ties can, however, create additional banners to disclosure. Fear of gossip, reputational harm, or social exclusion may discourage survivors from seeking help. At the same time, these networks can provide meaningful support. Strengthening connections with organisations created by communities for communities, as well as religious leaders and other key community actors, can help create safe referral pathways. This can include providing training relating to DSGBV for religious leaders and key members of the communities, making it easier to share information to and for survivors.

Ahmad, community leader: “It happens almost every week, […] I’m contacted by somebody that needs support. Yesterday […] I was contacted by someone who came in the office, was crying about her situation and she didn’t know that she could get help, I told her about it. Yet she was unsure, she said - oh, I think this is going to impact my husband-wife relationship - and she wasn’t sure whether she wanted to proceed. Then we had somebody today from Sligo calling me, a lady who wanted help and support, and I guided her. So it happens very very often, it’s a serious matter.

Researcher: Why do you think people go to community leaders rather than to institutional organisations?

I think it’s because of the trust. Especially when it’s the faith leader, because people usually have a lot of trust in faith leaders, they know that when they talk to their faith leader, the faith leader knows their cultural background, knows their context.”. 

Interviews with service providers highlighted how the limited representation of migrant communities, including South Asian, might make survivors hesitant to approach services where they do not see staff, volunteers or advocates who reflect their cultural background or understand specific community dynamics. This perceived lack of representation can contribute to feelings of misunderstanding or fear of not being fully understood.

No single service can realistically represent every cultural or linguistic community. This makes strong, collaborative partnerships with communities even more important. Community leaders and groups can act as first points of contact, helping survivors navigate formal services and understand their options, if properly trained. Strengthening collaborations between mainstream providers and communities can improve access, build confidence in services, and ensure that support is both culturally informed and aligned with survivors' safety and rights.     

NGOs often work with community representatives, but collaboration with key faith leaders remains somewhat limited. Our research confirms findings from other similar work by scholars such as Istratii (2025) that religious organisations are often the first social space for South Asian migrants to find their community and can play a vital role if included in preventative efforts as planned by Cuan. 

Urgent need of more research and relevant data disaggregated by immigration status, ethnicity and language to identify barriers to support and gaps in service provision. Better data will lead to better understanding and better visibility of priority areas. We reiterate the National Women’s Council’s call for more data to be made available on the experiences of travellers, migrants and minoritized women. 

Recognition of the role played by migrant social networks in coercive control of survivors that keep them in the situation is urgently needed. 

Communities may sometimes discourage survivors from reporting violence, but they can also provide critical pathways to safety if engaged with respect, training, and trust. 

Building long-term partnerships with community leaders helps bridge the gap between survivors and formal services. Strengthening relations of existing support service organisations with migrant and minoritized community organisations can play a pivotal role. Training religious leaders for mediation in cases where survivors approach them for intervention is also much needed.

Community organisations created and led by South Asian women are key to answering the debilitating social isolation many survivors report after leaving their abusive domestic spaces. 

We strongly recommend funding and creation of local South Asian women’s groups at the level where they can create their social sphere through cultural events, film screenings etc which can eventually lead to support structures for women. 

These groups can also become spaces for building awareness around issues like coercive control, DSGBV, and other integral issues impacting migrant South Asian women. 

These community-led organisations often hold detailed, trust-based knowledge that does not always appear in national statistics. Existing organisations such as Asian & Irish Community Connect already demonstrate the value of culturally specific and community-led engagement.

Long-term investment in migrant-led support services must become a core element of the national response. We need to explore the possibilities of creating these services within already existing South Asian community spaces to make both the issue of DV and the availability of support services more visible. 

These spaces can be mosques, temples, restaurants, or south asian grocery stores among others. In the context of limited and non-comprehensive national-level data collection, services created by communities, for communities play a key role in making migrant women’s experience visible. These spaces should allow people to speak in their own language and access culturally appropriate, trauma informed support. However, caste distinctions may still influence social relations within certain communities in Ireland. Because of this, it’s important that community-led initiatives promote inclusion, avoid reproducing caste-based dynamics and ensure safety, trust and inclusion. 

Training for community and faith leaders can help them recognise signs of DSGBV and understand referral pathways. Engaging with religious leaders and influencers can help challenge stigma and open conversations about DSGBV from within the community. 

Awareness campaigns should be tailored in different languages and formats for different migrant communities. Community organisations can host workshops, information sessions, or peer support groups to raise awareness using these resources in multiple languages. IRGS is actively seeking collaboration with Cuan and other organisations towards this venture.

Existing support services and workers are consistently reported by survivors as supportive and trying their best possible to help. However, they are overworked, under funded and require investment not only in staffing and resources, but also in links with community organisations: dedicated funding for outreach, community engagement, professional interpretation, and culturally informed training would help services respond more effectively to the needs of diverse migrant communities while main high-quality support.

The 2025 funding allocation by the Department of Justice, following a targeted funding call from Cuan, represents a positive step in this direction and signals an encouraging commitment to strengthen responses to DSGBV.

Extensive training of HSE staff at all levels in order to create sensitization to abusive domestic situations. South Asian medical staff we interviewed conveyed their frustration that they could often spot clear signs of abuse when women were attending with their husbands. But since they are not legally obligated to report such situations, nothing could be done. 

“When the time of my delivery came, I messaged the social worker at the hospital. He was newly hired at the time. I told him I need to talk to you, I want to meet you at the hospital. He called me back and my husband picked it up. It was his first job and he was so innocent he did not know…” - Nayema, survivor and mother of 4 children.