24 women murdered in NI since 2020 by men, making NI the second most dangerous country for women in Europe. So a VAWG strategy is very much welcomed. However, this didn’t come out of the blue as the women’s sector and especially the WPG led by Elaine Crory invested an incredible amount of time, effort and energy into making this happen by responding to consultations, carrying out primary & secondary research, presenting evidence to APG’s, ministers, departments and civil servants and numerous meetings made this happen. In fact, it has been a long and bumpy journey in getting here and a long way off being a socially inclusive society where no-one is disadvantaged on the basis of their gender, disability, age, sexual orientation or socio-economic status, AS a socially inclusive society would respect, protect, promote and fulfil the rights of all its citizens so that they have an equal share of power, resources & influence and all can fully participate in NI society. So I’d like to develop this theme journeying towards a truly socially inclusive NI further by charting the timeline and actions over the past 7 years.
So, we begin in 2017 when the Executive collapsed and everything was paused or indeed shelved as the mood music was that this was the end of NI devolution. NI had no abortion or marriage equality rights or comprehensive & standardised RSE provision. The Gender Equality strategy expired in 2016, there were no VAWG & domestic abuse strategies in place and NI lagged well behind the rest of the UK in terms of domestic abuse & sexual violence legislation.
In 2018 the Rugby rape trial highlighted how women & girls were failed within the Criminal Justice system. The outcome of this trail galvanised an outpouring of protest and discourse and subsequently a review of the criminal justice system in cases of serious sexual violence.
2019 NI Executive Formation Act-Westminster enacted Abortion, Marriage equality & RSE legislation for NI-much to the annoyance of many NI political parties However, it gave a sense of optimism to activists that change was possible.
2019 RYV project established with the support of Rosa UK funder for women & girls. This groundbreaking project put a focus on rising levels of sexual harassment across NI. Workshops were developed and delivered to women & girls, men & boys, in What is sexual harassment, what is consent & victim blaming, bystander interventions and allyship. Relationships were built with all 11 councils and training was delivered to councillors and staff which was greatly received and subsequently 8 councils passed motions supporting the work of RYV and having a better understanding of misogyny, patriarchy and the impact of sexual harassment in all communities.
2019 Gillen Review following the rugby rape trial and put a spotlight on how the criminal justice system deals with cases of serious sexual violence, carried out by Sir John Gillen. This review made over 250+ recommendations a majority of which did not require legislation. However, progress has been slow although some changes such as Solis, remote evidence centres & limiting access to court galleries have happened.
Jan 2020 Executive restored and committed to New Decade New Approach actions and Paragraph 4.6.2 stated “the PFG could be underpinned by key supporting strategies including, Anti-poverty, disability, Gender & sexual orientation. Yet despite the investment made by many experts within our sector and civil servants this commitment to build and work towards a socially inclusive society remains unmet.
March 2020 Covid pandemic & lockdowns, with all of us having to adapt and learn quickly regarding IT skills and apps as WFH became the norm. Rising levels of on-line harassment were reported.
July 2020 Feminist Recovery Plan launched and got a great deal of publicity both regionally & internationally. The FRP highlighted what we all suspected that violence against women & girls rocketed globally, women were disadvantaged in terms of Furlough payments and statutory maternity pay, and that women still carried the lions share of home schooling, childcare & eldercare even when both partners were wfh. The greatest health inequality was women still travelling during the pandemic for abortion services as NI did not introduce Telemedicine unlike the rest of the UK, republic of Ireland and European countries.
Late 2020 DfC Minister Deirdre Hargey announced the plan for the development of 4 social inclusion strategies, Gender, Anti-poverty, LGBTQI+ and disability. Expert panels and co-design groups were established with individuals from community & voluntary organisations all of whom having significant expertise & lived experience of inequalities. Draft strategies were developed but never got past the starting line as the Executive collapsed again March 2022.
March 2021 Sarah Everard was murdered while walking home during lockdown and there was shock and outrage when protestors were arrested & harassed by police while attending demos calling out VAWG. This was the catalyst in the campaign for a VAWG in NI.
July 2021 Feminist Recovery Plan updated with lived experiences of women relaunched and got a bit more traction with government & agencies and the content was repurposed in the Women’s Manifesto May 2022
Over 2021-22 the following legislation introduced,
- Protection from Stalking
- Domestic Abuse & Family proceedings this also includes coercive control
- Non-fatal strangulation
- Sexual Offences & Trafficking People Act this included up-skirting; down-blousing & image based sexual abuse
- Safe Leave Act passed in 2022 but still to be enacted for victims of domestic abuse
AND THEN IN March 2022 Executive collapsed again although I should note that although MLA’s were on their sabbatical, our sector continued to work through consultations, EQIA’s, presentations & meetings with civil servants, During this period there were departmental budget cuts and funding contracts taken to the wire again, the ending of ESF and the introduction of the pilot Community Renewal & Shared Prosperity funds all administered via Westminster, which again many NI politicians & civil servants were not one bit happy with, yet it wasn’t a legitimate reason to restore devolution.
September 2022 PSNI launched its VAWG Action plan outlining how they will work to ensure that women and girls can live their life free from fear, intimidation and harassment. The 3 pillars are:
- Building trust and confidence in policing
- Relentless perpetrator pursuit and supporting victims
- Creating safer spaces for women and girls
In addition to femicide, PSNI respond to a domestic abuse incident every 17 minutes, and over the past year PSNI have responded to almost 24k incidents. This level of violence has huge implications & resources for support agencies, children, mental health, NHS, housing provision, criminal justice system & prisons. Prevention has to be the ultimate goal rather than continually responding to domestic abuse & sexual violence perpetrators which most survivors regard as totally inadequate and useless.
September 2024 EVAWG & Domestic & Sexual Abuse strategies launched and aligned to the EVAWG strategy and action plan for prevention and delivery will be the Regional & Local Change Fund. This will roll on as follows,
8 regional organisations including WRDA have secured up to £150k over 15 months to deliver preventative programmes aligned to EVAWG AND all 11 councils will receive funding under the Local change fund to deliver funding to groups in their areas within 3 funding tiers. This should be all signed off by next month & delivery will commence January 2025.
September 2024 draft PFG launched for consultation with 9 statements, no timescales, measurable targets, aligned budgets or information on how this will be monitored. I believe a PFG should be visionary and ambitious and based on evidence of need of all its citizens regardless of age, gender, disability, sexual orientation, ethnicity or socio-economic status. Evidence of need is contained within the draft social inclusion strategies which have not been signed off yet, so how can we have a socially inclusive society in the absence of these building blocks!!
October 2024 DfC Minister Gordon Lyons announced work would proceed on anti-poverty & disability strategies with Gender & LGBTQI+ draft strategies paused indefinitely
The EVAWG & Domestic & Sexual Abuse strategies are a huge step in the right direction but alone they will not end VAWG, we need a united commitment by the NI Executive to end VAWG, signing off the social inclusive strategies, a PFG fit for purpose, a realistically budget, reforms in the criminal justice system and family courts including training for judges, legal representatives & jurors. RSE in schools as learning about healthy relationships, victim blaming and consent etc. is vital in changing attitudes as early interventions are much better than responding to VAWG.
And last but not least all men have a vital role to play in challenging and changing attitudes and by calling out all forms of VAWG.
We’re still on the long & winding road to a socially inclusive northern Ireland society and much work remains to be done, yet we must continue to have hope and courage because Another World is Possible😊
Anne McVicker
WRDA Director
