Stalking is an extremely prevalent issue in our society, and we welcomed the passing
of the Protection from Stalking Act, engaging with the Department of Justice and the
Justice Committee throughout.
For too long, protections in Northern Ireland in relation to crimes that
disproportionately impact women have been lesser than other jurisdictions across the
UK and Ireland. We welcome recent work that has seen progress made in relation to
issues including domestic abuse legislation, protection from stalking, and more.
However, we still have a long way to go before women and girls are afforded at least
the same protections as women across the UK and Ireland and for the full scale of
gender-based violence to be tackled. We still await adequate Hate Crime legislation,
RSE is still not at the standard that it should be at, we have yet to see the introduction
of Domestic Abuse Protection Orders and Notices, and at present the EVAWG
Strategy is not yet approved by the Assembly or enacted. This includes ensuring that
legislation relating to violence that disproportionately impacts women is in line with
international mechanisms such as the Council of Europe Convention (Istanbul
Convention)22 and Committee for the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women
(CEDAW)23. The WPG and broader women’s sector and LGBTQ+ sector have long
campaigned for improvements to our legislation to address the wide-spread levels of
gender-based violence in our society, and this includes the measures to ensure
protection from stalking.
