Sinn Féin MLA Linda Dillon MLA has backed a Women’s Aid petition calling for a strategy to combat violence against women and girls in the north during a meeting of the Justice Committee today.

Speaking after the Committee’s meeting Linda Dillon said:

“This petition highlights the urgent need for a specific Violence Against Women and Girls Strategy in the north of Ireland. 

“Gender-based violence has devastating impacts on the lives of thousands of women and children in the north every year and is having a disproportionate impact on women from minority communities.

“A strategy to tackle violence against women and girls is an international human rights obligation under the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW).

“As recently as 2019, the CEDAW Committee has expressed concern over the lack of a strategy here.

“The north is the only part of these islands that does not have a specific strategy to tackle gender-based violence. 

“The stark findings of the Gillen and Hate Crime reviews show that the lack of a strategy is failing women and girls here. 

“It is vital the Minister for Justice begins work on developing a Violence Against Women and Girls Strategy,  as a matter of urgency.”