Northern Ireland Human Rights Commission calls for decisive action to protect women and girls across Northern Ireland
On International Women’s Day 2026 (8 March), the Northern Ireland Human Rights Commission (NIHRC) urges government to accelerate efforts to protect the rights of women and girls across all areas of life, including emerging digital harms, poverty, discrimination, and access to truth and redress.
International Women’s Day remains an important opportunity to amplify efforts to strengthen gender equality. The Commission warns that women and girls in Northern Ireland continue to face systemic barriers that undermine their safety, dignity, and ability to participate fully in society.
Chief Commissioner of the NIHRC, Alyson Kilpatrick, said:
“International Women’s Day must be more than a celebration, it must be a call to action. Across Northern Ireland, women and girls face old and new forms of inequality: from online abuse driven by artificial intelligence, to entrenched poverty, to the lasting wounds of institutional mistreatment.
“Women’s rights are human rights. Protecting them requires leadership, courage and investment. We are urging the Executive and all public bodies to place human rights — including dignity, equality and justice — at the heart of every policy, every strategy and every piece of legislation. Northern Ireland cannot progress unless women and girls can live free from violence, free from discrimination, and free to participate fully in our society.”
The Commission remains committed to providing the Northern Ireland Executive with expert advice on fulfilling its human rights obligations, with a particular focus on strengthening legal and policy safeguards for women and girls, including:
Tackling digital violence and deepfakes
The Commission is concerned about the rapid rise of technology‑facilitated gender‑based violence, including the creation and sharing of non‑consensual sexually explicit deepfakes. Evidence shows that these abuses have a silencing effect on women’s participation in public and political life and disproportionately target women in journalism, public service and community leadership.
Currently, there is no legislation in NI which criminalises deepfakes where images relate to adults. NIHRC welcomes the commitment made by the Minister of Justice to introduce such amendments to the Justice Bill at consideration stage of the Justice Committee in the Northern Ireland Assembly.
The Commission recommends legislation is victim‑centred, gender‑sensitive, and aligned with human rights standards. This must include effective investigations, redress, strong obligations on technology companies, and a legal framework capable of keeping pace with fast‑evolving AI systems.
Women, poverty and inequality
Women in NI remain at higher risk of poverty and financial insecurity. A gender‑sensitive and intersectional approach is urgently needed across the Anti‑Poverty Strategy to remove barriers to employment, ensure adequate income support, and address the disproportionate impact of the cost‑of‑living crisis. Strategies must be grounded in clear human rights obligations, with meaningful participation from women with lived experience and independent monitoring to ensure accountability.
Ensuring truth, justice and meaningful redress for women and girls impacted by institutional harm
As the Inquiry into Mother and Baby Institutions, Magdalene Laundries and Workhouses and redress scheme moves forward, the Commission calls for the process to be human rights compliant, transparent, and capable of delivering truth and acknowledgement for survivors, many of whom endured gender‑based discrimination, coercion, family separation and profound long‑term harm.
The Commission highlights that survivors must be able to participate meaningfully in shaping the inquiry, evidential procedures and redress mechanisms.
ENDS
For media queries contact media@nihrc.org
About the Northern Ireland Human Rights Commission:
The Northern Ireland Human Rights Commission (the Commission) was created in 1999 by the Northern Ireland Act 1998, an Act of the United Kingdom (UK) Parliament. This Act followed the Belfast (Good Friday) peace agreement. The Commission’s powers have been extended by the Justice and Security (Northern Ireland) Act 2007 (the 2007 Act) and the European Union (Withdrawal Agreement) Act 2020. The Commission is accountable to the Westminster Parliament but it can also be requested by the regional government, the Northern Ireland (NI) Executive and Assembly, to give advice on human rights matters.