Written evidence submitted by Women’s Aid Federation in Northern Ireland regarding the effects of paramilitaries on society in Northern Ireland inquiry (PNI0005)

Submission Contents

• Women’s Aid Statistics & Information

• Our Submission Response 

• Concluding Remarks  

Women’s Aid – Information & Statistics

Women’s Aid is the lead voluntary organisation in Northern Ireland addressing domestic abuse and provides support services for women, children, and young people.  Women’s Aid NI is made up of eight local Women’s Aid groups and Women’s Aid Federation Northern Ireland.  Women’s Aid exists to challenge attitudes and beliefs which perpetuate domestic abuse. We work to promote healthy, non-abusive relationships.

Our mission

Women’s Aid exists to challenge attitudes and beliefs which perpetuate domestic abuse. We seek through our work to promote healthy, non-abusive relationships

Our principles are:

Survivor engagement: Women, children and young people are at the heart of everything we do and we will ensure our work is informed by their voices and experience.

Collaboration: We will work collectively and collaboratively as a Women’s Aid movement, to bring about positive change.

Empowerment: We will encourage women, children and young people to access support which will develop their inherent strengths, helping them to make safe positive choices and determine their own futures.

Equity, diversity and inclusion: We are committed to equity, diversity, and inclusion and will challenge all forms of discrimination.

Trauma informed practice and quality standards: We are committed to quality standards, trauma informed practice, and continuous improvement.

Working with others to influence change: We recognise domestic abuse requires a coordinated response and we are fully committed to working across society, with all individuals and organisations, to end domestic abuse.

Our core aims:

We will work collectively across Northern Ireland to:

Engage with women, children and young people, to give them a voice and ensure they inform all aspects of service development and delivery.

Provide trauma informed specialised services to women, children and young people who have experienced domestic abuse.

Deliver preventative education programmes in schools and community settings to promote healthy non-abusive relationships and share key safeguarding messages.

Educate and inform the public, private, voluntary, statutory and community sectors of the context and impact of domestic abuse.

Provide quality assured education and training to a wide audience, to increase capacity to respond to domestic abuse.

Monitor, influence and respond to government policy and legislation as a Subject Matter Expert, giving a voice to survivors of domestic abuse.

Work in partnership, sharing our expertise with all relevant agencies to ensure a joined-up response to domestic abuse.

Domestic Abuse in 2020 - 21:

A Year in Numbers from Women’s Aid

• 530 women and 319 children stayed in a Women’s Aid refuge.
• 293 pregnant women received support from Women’s Aid.
• 10 babies were born to women in refuge.
• 6,005 women and 6,450 children accessed Women’s Aid outreach services, enabling them to get support while staying in their own homes.
• 1,197 women took part in programmes run by Women’s Aid, including our Journey to Freedom and You and Me, Mum programmes.
• We trained 168 teachers across 105 primary schools to deliver the Helping Hands preventative education programme.

PSNI Statistics on Domestic Abuse – 2020/2021

• There were 31,196 domestic abuse incidents recorded in 2020/21, the third highest level recorded since the data series began in 2004/05. This latest figure is one and a half times higher than the level of 20,959 recorded at the start of the data series in 2004/05.
• There were 19,036 domestic abuse crimes recorded in 2020/21 which is the highest level recorded since the series began in 2004/05. This figure is nearly twice the level recorded in 2004/05 and represents 1/5 of all crimes recorded in this financial year.
• The number of domestic abuse violence against the person offences recorded in 2020/21 was the highest to date.
• During 2020/21, 69% of all domestic abuse crime victims were female and 31% were male.
• n 2004/05 three quarters of victims (75%) were between the ages of 20 and 49; by 2020/21 this had fallen to 66%. The proportion of victims under 15 and those age 50+ have generally increased since the start of the data series.
• There were 9 murders with a domestic abuse motivation that occurred in this financial year, 8 of which were female.
• Of all offenders dealt with by police during 2020/21 in connection with domestic abuse crimes that resulted in a sanction outcome, 86% were male and 13% were female.
• Almost 3 in 5 relationships between the domestic abuse victim and offender were categorised as current or ex-partner. Just under a quarter were parent and child relationships.

Throughout this response, the term “Women’s Aid” refers to the overall Women’s Aid movement in Northern Ireland, including our local groups and Women’s Aid Federation. 

Our Submission Response

First and foremost, Women’s Aid wish to thank the Northern Ireland Affairs Select Committee for this opportunity to highlight the lived experiences of women, children & young people effected by domestic abuse within the context of the socio-economic effects of paramilitaries on communities and individuals here in Northern Ireland.

Since our inception in Northern Ireland in the 1970s, Women’s Aid have been supporting women, children, and young people despite the difficulties of operating during The Troubles, and in our current post-conflict society. As an organisation we’ve heard truly harrowing testimonies from women trying to escape the cycle of abuse they are trapped in, and the additional barriers they face even to this day due to their abuser being in a paramilitary organisation or having the assumed protection of a paramilitary organisation.  We’ve had Women’s Aid staff receive death threats from paramilitary organisations for daring to support women trying to escape their perpetrator, even following the end of The Troubles.

Since the Good Friday Agreement, the demobilisation of paramilitary groups (non-state armed groups) has had positive outcomes for victims of domestic abuse in Northern Ireland, though we are aware on a ground level of the continued control in some areas by perpetrators who draw on their paramilitary connections to continue to control those they are abusing.

Since the early 2000s, the PSNI has seen an increase[1] in reporting of domestic abuse incidents, which reflects the growing confidence the Northern Irish public have in approaching the police for help, especially with more legislative protections being introduced since this data started to be collected. However, twenty-four years since the Good Friday Agreement was signed, there are still major and valid concerns women have for their own safety from paramilitary elements within their community in the context of trying to break free from their abuser.

‘Coercive Control’ of the Community

Women’s Aid often use the term ‘coercive control’ in relation to our work supporting women, children & young people who have experienced domestic abuse, as it overwhelmingly encapsulates the experience of domestic abuse we regularly hear from those we support throughout Northern Ireland. Women’s Aid define coercive control as:

“An intentional pattern of behaviour (often used alongside other forms of abuse) which can include threats, excessive regulation, intimidation, humiliation and enforced isolation[2].”

Whilst we as population have progressed a lot of the last 20 years in creating a more peaceful society, to deny communities no longer live under a cloud of intimation and fear of retribution for speaking out against paramilitary organisations is to deny the reality of life for many working-class people in traditionally paramilitary controlled areas. Our communities are still living under an atmosphere of ‘coercive control’ from paramilitaries, from turning a blind eye to a teenager getting kneecapped in a so called ‘punishment attack’, to being too afraid to call the police on their neighbour loudly beating his wife because of ‘who he is’ and fearing for their own safety. For many years, Women’s Aid have also unfortunately heard from many women from different community backgrounds whose perpetrators has hid behind a paramilitary association, which due to this organisation’s ongoing intimidation of the community, means therefore that the community isn’t willing to denounce the perpetrator due their ‘standing’ either for their known paramilitary association, or being seen as a ‘leader’ within that community. The perpetrator’s ‘standing’ is seen as more important than what they do to women behind closed doors, and therefore the woman is ostracised by the community they’ve known their whole lives for speaking out against their well-connected abuser or seeking help from the Police. In a recent testimony gathering session with Women’s Aid staff and women we support for the NI Executive’s Call for Views on the Violence Against Women & Girls Strategy, one woman expressed to us this sentiment of fearing push back from their community:

“Communities are still controlled (by paramilitaries) this macho type of behaviour is there. So, a woman has not only has to get out of that abusive relationship, she has to deal with the community outside that which is another barrier to getting support. It’s also the case that for over 30 years the lack of addressing, tackling it or dealing with it, it was like pushing it down, pretending it’s not there whilst also continuing to fund paramilitaries to keep it quiet so women were paying the price.”

The ‘Power’ of the Paramilitary Perpetrator

Since the mass decommissioning of paramilitary weapons in the late 1990s/early 2000s, the use of firearms in the context of domestic abuse incidents that we are aware has greatly decreased over the decades. However, there still are many individual perpetrators with access to illegal firearms that they use as a threat to instil fear and exert control over their victim – threating her safety, the safety of her children and her friends/extended family. For many of the women we’ve supported of the years in Northern Ireland, the fear of repercussions of ‘going against’ their perpetrator due to their paramilitary connections has been a major factor in them staying with said perpetrator. One woman we supported was gravely concerned for her safety even though her preparator was literally in prison, as this perpetrator is a senior member of an illegal paramilitary organisation, and was using his power to have her followed, having her home watched and threating that if she were to leave the area he would use his ‘network’ to find her. 

She conveyed her fear to us further by saying:

“I feel as an ex-wife life in Northern Ireland with an ex-husband heavily connected to paramilitary associates … that this should be more looked into as I feel some members of the PSNI, solicitors and courts do not take this seriously enough and the result could be deadly. I feel PSNI solicitors and members of the court need to look deeper and educate themselves more about what actually is going on and how victims to this day are still going through this and worse being told to stay quiet if this is not addressed more victims could end up seriously hurt or worse by simply trying to put an end to their abuse, but by speaking out to get help puts us at risk even more - police solicitors and courts strongly need to take this into consideration.”

In one particular area in NI there are up to 20 women we’ve supported who are facing threats from ex-partners who are members or claim to be members of a paramilitary organisation. The 1992 study, ‘Bringing It Out into The Open: Domestic Violence in Northern Ireland’ highlights this ‘power’ of a paramilitary perpetrator during The Troubles:

“Membership of paramilitary/armed groups increase the level of power, control and impunity available to perpetrators of intimate partner violence[3]”

Fast forward to a further 2018 study by one of the same authors as the 1992 study, Professor Monica McWilliams, elaborates further on this still existing sentiment by highlighting that:

“The fact that perpetrators of intimate partner violence use their affiliation with armed groups to threaten and abuse their partners points towards the different sources of power that may be open to perpetrators of intimate partner violence in conflict and post- conflict contexts[4].”

The conversations we have had with these women have been incredibly difficult and challenging, but their stories need to be heard and the high risk to life needs to be addressed. These women should not be silenced just because of ‘who’ their perpetrator is.

Calling The Police – Mistrust, Fear of Repercussions & Protection

As referenced earlier in this submission, the number of domestic abuse incidents reported to the PSNI has greatly increased since 2004[5] which is reflection in the growing confidence the public have in contacting the Police for help in breaking free from their perpetrator. However, in some traditionally paramilitary controlled areas in both communities, there remains a prevalent taboo culture of contacting the police due to fear of repercussions from paramilitary organisations or being seen to be bringing the police into the area or ‘informing’ on their perpetrator, especially if that perpetrator is a member or affiliated with said paramilitary organisation. The fear of being labelled ‘a tout’ is still something that people fear as it puts their safety at risk on their own street.

In some areas throughout Northern Ireland, historical mistrust of the police service in Northern Ireland is still deep rooted even though we live in a post conflict society. Sections of our population who lived through The Troubles still retain the perception that the police will not help them especially if there is a paramilitary element involved in their situation. Victims of domestic abuse also fear that if they call the police against their paramilitary affiliated perpetrator, they are concerned that the police won’t take enough action or react quick enough to ensure her immediate safety. For example, if the paramilitary perpetrator gets bail, the victim would be extremely concerned that this will put her in immediate danger from him or from others within the paramiltary network to threaten or intimate her. The fear that the police won’t be able to protect her from her perpetrator, especially if they have access to illegal firearms, is real and truly terrifying to victims in Northern Ireland.

There is also a concern amongst women in these specific abusive situations where the victim knows that their perpetrator is a Covert Human Intelligence Source (informally well known as an Informant) for the security services, and as such, knows that the authorities have a vested interest in keeping this informant in the community in relation to their operations. This therefore results in the the victim fearing that the authorities will show more leniency towards the perpetrator as they have vested interest in keeping them on the streets.

These women fear not only the repercussions from speaking out from their abusers directly but from their community, his ‘associates’ and the concern authorities won’t take enough action to protect them.

Concluding Remarks

In summary, we wish to again thank the Committee for taking the time to review our submission on the socio-economic effects of paramilitaries on communities in Northern Ireland in relation to the specialist and trauma informed services Women’s Aid carry out for women, children & young people who have experienced domestic abuse.

Whilst domestic abuse is a UK wide issue, Northern Ireland is in a unique situation where paramilitary involvement adds a truly frightening extra barrier for women, children & young people trying to flee domestic abuse with sometimes the muted consent of those living in the community.  At the time of writing of this submission, 13 women have been murder in Northern Ireland with a domestic abuse motivation since March 2020. Domestic Abuse, which is often an underreported and hidden crime, in the reported figures makes up 1/5 of all crime[6] in Northern Ireland, which shows that this problem is truly only the tip of the iceberg in terms of the epidemic that domestic abuse is in our society.

We wish to convey to the Committee that despite all the good work that has been done to build a more peaceful society here in Northern Ireland, which totally reverses to be commended, paramilitary organisations still coercively control communities here even in 2022, and to deny this reality is to do a disservice to the women and children we support whom paramilitarism is another barrier for them accessing support and trying to break free from domestic abuse.

May 2022