Magallanes has its first Specialized Care Center for Gender-Based Violence

The Magallanes Specialized Care Center for Gender-Based Violence was inaugurated today. The center will support the prevention of violence against women and restore the rights and autonomy of those who have experienced these episodes.

The facility is located in Punta Arenas and is the first of its kind in the region. It will offer specialized reparative services to women who require them. Services include psychological and social care, as well as legal support and representation to promote access to justice and coordinate with community and institutional networks.

According to Women and Gender Equity Minister Antonia Orellana, the center is designed to deal with complex crimes, such as attempted femicide and serious injuries suffered in the context of domestic violence.

This allows us to provide more expedient support, but also to better complete the protection circuit by specializing care and optimizing service times. We are thus seeking to provide more personalized follow-up services," Antonia Orellana, Women and Gender Equity Minister.

In this sense, the Punta Arenas facility is part of the reformulated "Program for Care, Protection and Reparation in Violence Against Women". With its inauguration, 13 regions in Chile now have a Specialized Care Center for Gender-Based Violence.

"Violence against women is one of the main public security problems in the Magallanes Region. This center therefore fulfils President Gabriel Boric's commitment to decentralize care, reaching every corner of the country with a reparative program that is key to serving the diverse women survivors of violence," Minister Orellana stated.

The director of the National Women and Gender Equity Service, Priscilla Carrasco, praised the opening of the center. She indicated that it is a very important milestone, because it "redefines what it means to be a victim of such as serious crime through comprehensive support."

Features of the new Specialized Care Center for Gender-Based Violence

The Magallanes Specialized Care Center for Gender-Based Violence is staffed by a coordinator, a social worker, two psychologists, a lawyer, administrative support, an external supervisor and a psychiatrist.

The center will support 132 women a year, between April and December. The executing entity will implement the intervention model primarily in the territory of Magallanes. Services will be provided on-site in Punta Arenas, and remotely in Puerto Natales, Porvenir and other municipalities.