‘Harrowing and deeply distressing’ stories of coercive control victims’ experience of paramilitarism raised

Transcript

00:00It would be remiss of me not to mention recent research produced by the Foyle Family Justice

00:06Centre on the impact of paramilitarism on women and its connections with domestic violence.

00:12This has been called in this research the unseen aspects of today's paramilitarism

00:19and one that is hidden in plain sight. I want to pay tribute to those women who came forward

00:25and told their stories. They were often harrowing and deeply distressing, lives permeated by

00:32fear not only of the abuser but of the threat that underlies that abuse. The ten recommendations

00:40of that report must be implemented and the new framework of paramilitary-related coercive

00:45control developed in this research should no doubt form a new and key part of our response.

00:54It must also be tackled through the new ending violence against women and girls strategy.

00:59I am really concerned that the new strategy commits only £3 million to tackle the entire

01:04issue over two years.