Domestic violence rates in Northern Ireland exist less as a state secret, more a brutish reality.
The region boasts a vibrant society, thriving in the flux of post- conflict progress. Crumbling lead pipes and a flawed infrastructure pale to profound insignificance against an unshakable shared spirit—one as deeply poured into as it is drawn from. However, this spirit is bevelled by a sinister stratification of violence—an evil begetting an evil. From the overt and overarching conflict was born a silent offspring, secreted away as a natural corollary to the bigger issue. While not ignored, the profound presence of violence against women has gone too long unchecked by Northern Irish society and their courts. Violence against women cannot remain excused as a symptom of frustration or incontinent anger. Women cannot remain the collateral damage in external conflicts. Women are not the fodder of any conflict. These truths are acknowledged—but they remain a shameful oversight, unimplemented by our judiciary.
First, we must look to the north and what violence against women means in their context. Within the years 1969 and 1998, an estimated 3600 people were killed in the conflict. Women were the ‘primary home makers and family caretakers’, unerringly and unquestioningly throughout this violence according to George Mitchell. They as a people were regarded as a binding agent for communities in that fractious environment. However, as is the case for similar conflicts, the role was sorely abused. A symptom of the brooding and sinister sectarianism that existed, women on both sides of the divide found themselves held hostage to imposed societal norms. Financial restraints bled into personal limitations. Prisoner’s wives were held to an abnormally high standard of loyalty to their convicted partners, childcare provisions were among the worst in Europe and as such, women were rendered profoundly disenfranchised, clinically depressed and above all, vulnerable, with no source of solution forthcoming.
Indeed, the environment became such that a perpetration of violence against women was provided an optimal environment for growth, by both state and non-state actors, both inside and outside of the home. One service provider in the grip of the violence interviewed by George Mitchell commented that ‘you had this kind of enormous culture of violence which was created by the conflict which just sort of poured over into everywhere else. [It] poured over into the streets, into family life, into the home, and so what I found during the research was that . It seems that these experiences became rooted in a DNA pattern of women here, destined to carry, transcending time and generation. The argument remains that there exists a causal link between the violence then, and the violence now. A region racked by war, and a long and enduring legacy of pain- an evil begetting an evil without judicial intervention.
So where does this chequered past leave us today?
The answer lies in bitter stagnation. In September 1992, the United Nations Declaration on the elimination of violence against women produced a definition for the violence as “any act of gender-based violence that results in, or is likely to result in, physical, sexual or psychological harm or suffering to women including threats of such acts, coercion or arbitrary deprivations of liberty whether occurring in public or private life”. The figures in post conflict Northern Ireland exist as a sobering fulfilment of the definition. In just these last four years, a total of 24 women have died at the hands of this entrenched societal DNA pattern for violence, with a further 41 confirmed femicides since 2017, the highest in the UK and Ireland per capita.
The discourse on Conflict Related Violence against women is historically one exclusive to the global south. Very few western states can provide a parallel in the way that Northern Ireland can provide a replica to their plight. However, it cannot be overstated that generalisations here have proven dangerous. In placing Northern Ireland in the same bracket as the rest of the Western World, it could be said that judiciary and policy makers alike have failed the women of Northern Ireland in what can only be described as blatant ignorance. A 2019 thematic inspection by the Criminal Justice Inspection Northern Ireland (CJINI) titled "No Excuse" highlighted significant delays and systemic issues in processing domestic violence and abuse cases. The report emphasized that these delays not only prolong the trauma for victims but also undermine confidence in the justice system. So, although movement like the Domestic Abuse and Civil Proceedings Act (Northern Ireland) 2021 has taken place, it hasn’t proven sufficient.
Sobered and scarified, the region’s stifled cries for intervention are seen reflected in the statement given by Sonya McMullen, regional services manager for Women’s Aid Northern Ireland. She exclaims that “there are women who are afraid to go home even though when you shut your front door you should be in the safest place in the world. We are seeing women in refuges who were there as children. There is inter-generational abuse going on here. Will it take another murder to get action? Is that what it takes?”
However, hope is not lost and nor can it be. NI courts are demonstrating signs of improvement with cases like McKinney v The King [2024] NICA. The case stands a heartening testament to a new narrative that stands eager to emerge, one that sees judicial consequences bear the gravity they have too long sorely lacked in relation to violence against women. The Court of Appeal upheld a life sentence with a minimum tariff of 20 years for Mr. McKinney, who was convicted of murdering his partner. The court recognized coercive and controlling behaviour as an aggravating factor in sentencing, emphasizing the severity of such conduct in domestic violence cases. With more judgements like this a cumulative effect could see women disinherited from the excused violence before them- a maligned history recognised and brighter future obtained for the daughters of Northern Ireland.
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