Publications

Submission to the UN Special Rapporteur on Violence Against Women and Girls

Date produced: February 2024.

Below is a summary of the Commission's recommendations and messages.

You can also download the full document through the links provided.

The NI Human Rights Commission advises and recommends:

• The NIHRC that the UK Government and NI Executive take effective steps to ensure that a comprehensive assessment of the cumulative impact of budgets in NI is conducted with a focus on the human rights of women and girls.
• The NIHRC recommends that the UK Government and NI Executive take effective steps to develop and roll out training and guidance on Windsor Framework Article 2 across government departments and act promptly to ensure that guidance on policy and legislative development is updated to include consideration of Windsor Framework Article 2.
• The NIHRC recommends that that the UK Government and NI Executive take effective steps to introduce a Single Equality Act for NI and provide the necessary support to secure the necessary political consensus to deliver this.
• The NIHRC recommends that the UK Government and NI Executive take effective steps to ensure that intersectional multiple discrimination claims in NI are effectively addressed, including providing for intersectionality within equality legislation as required.
• The NIHRC recommends that the UK Government and NI Executive take effective steps to adopt measures that improve the collection of disaggregated data on violence against women and domestic abuse. This includes collecting data in a way which reflects society in NI and enables comprehensive comparison with other parts of the UK.
• The NIHRC recommends that the UK Government and NI Executive take effective steps to explicitly adopt a gender-sensitive approach to tackle all forms of violence against women and girls in NI. This includes access to specialised, gender-sensitive, accessible support services.
• The NIHRC recommends that the UK Government and NI Executive take effective steps to consider the specific gendered effect of paramilitarism in NI when implementing programmes to tackle the issue, particularly its effect on women and girls that are victims and survivors of violence and domestic abuse.
• The NIHRC recommends that the UK Government and NI Executive take effective steps to ensure that the court process for child contact arrangements in NI are not being used to perpetrate domestic abuse.
• The NIHRC recommends that the UK Government withdraws its reservation to Article 59 of the Istanbul Convention and ensures that specialised support for domestic and sexual violence and abuse in NI is available regardless of an individual’s immigration status.
• The NIHRC recommends that the UK Government ensures that asylum law that applies in NI is human rights complaint, including with the principle of non-refoulment, and its obligations under Windsor Framework Article 2.
• The NIHRC recommends that the UK Government and NI Executive ensures that all elements of ‘comprehensive’ relationships and sexuality education are taught consistently in post primary schools in NI. This should be developed to achieve the aim of ensuring that all elements of comprehensive relationships and sexuality education are delivered within every post-primary school in NI.