THERE is “much work to be done” to support women in Northern Ireland who live under the threat of domestic abuse and paramilitary violence, a new report has shown.
This week Foyle’s Women’s Aid released research it undertook into the links between intimate partner violence and paramilitary coercive control.
It revealed many women live lives where they experience “double the fear” due to their abusive partners also being involved in paramilitarism.
“For one woman, the abuse she was trapped in was ‘not just one person, it’s a whole organisation,” it states.
“It’s different with domestic abuse, you have you and your abuser. But like, with an abuser that’s in an organisation, you have them and the people that come along with them’,” the report, by Aisling Swaine, Professor of Peace, Security and International Law at University College Dublin’s (UCD) Sutherland School of Law, reveals.
Women also told the researchers that their partners laid the groundwork by deliberately telling them they too are “involved” in paramilitarism.
“These are only words, yet, living with a knowing that there is group-based capacity for harm available to him, on top of his abuse, creates a feeling of living within an omnipotent system of control,” the report states.
Justice Minister pictured with Marie Brown, CEO of Foyle Women's Aid“People living in communities controlled by paramilitaries know what to expect should they step out of line – reprisals.
“For these women, the daily intimidation, surveillance and threats, are brought into their relationship.
“Being told ‘just be careful with these boys’ - i.e. ‘the boys’ that he is involved with - prompts deep-seated fear,” the report adds.
“Women are telling us that it matters that he draws paramilitarism into the intimacies of abuse, because they then have to navigate layers of coercion, threat and surveillance, if they are ever to feel safe.”
Responding to the report, which was launched at an event held at the Ebrington Hotel in Derry yesterday, Northern Ireland’s Justice Minister Naomi Long said there was “much work to be done to protect women”.
“[This] harrowing report highlights how much there is still to do, to support women who have faced paramilitary violence and coercion," she said.
“We know that violence does not happen in a vacuum and violence against women and paramilitary violence are linked.”
Ms Long added: “Much work is being done to address paramilitary harm and break that cycle for future generations.
“It is imperative that we continue to work together to end the hidden harms like those we have heard about today and to provide safety for the brave women who have shared their experiences.”
