By Sinéad Kelly
A leading charity is calling for a new post of a Women’s’ Health and Safety Minister to help tackle an epidemic of violence.
The Athrú project (meaning change in Irish) is a small youth-led organisation based in Co Antrim that are making the plea for a dedicated Minister, following ‘the constant stream of horrific statistics on women’s safety and health in Northern Ireland’
According to the latest figures from the PSNI in 2024/2025, approximately 20% of all crime was domestic abuse related with 18,393 domestic abuse crimes being recorded. Sixty-seven of these domestic abuse victims were female.
The group say that a dedicated women’s health and safety minister would tackle issues effecting women directly including violence and harassment, growing femicide rates, gynaecology health and treatment delays and to help highlight that maternal mortality rates are rising.
A spokesperson from Athrú said: “Having a women’s minister would ensure long term strategies and programmes could be funded with a strategies and programmes could be funded with a steady budget, and proper focus towards women’s issues in Northern Ireland would be possible.
“We are currently one of the most dangerous places in Europe to be a woman today, the need for a dedicated minister has never been more apparent. Someone who is accountable when conditions for women do not improve, and someone who could directly respond to the large systemic problems we have.”
The organisation’s plea comes as it is reported by the WRDA (Women’s Resource and Development Agency) that Northern Ireland has the second highest rate of femicide across Europe. Their figures show that the PSNI responded to instances of domestic abuse every 16 minutes since 2023.
The WRDA say: “Northern Ireland address gender-related killing through gender-neutral homicide laws, femicide isn’t recognised as a distinct category requiring specific treatment. The PSNI’s approach remains fundamentally gender- neutral.”
In 2025 The Northern Ireland Human Rights Commission also called for coordinated action to end violence against women and girls, with the Chief Commissioner of the NIHR, Alyson Kilpatrick, saying: “It is a tragedy that violence against women and girls continues to ravage society in Northern Ireland.
“It is a grave human rights violation which leaves women extremely vulnerable. It takes the lives of women and girls when their death could be prevented. We are experiencing a rise in the number of homicides, which should shame us into putting its demise at the top of everyone’s list of priorities.”
The Athrú project are keen to increase engagement and reach, with a spokesperson adding: “We are focused on increasing our reach and engagement online to further our campaign and to also spread awareness of the issues facing women today.”
“We hope to continue to meet politicians about our goal of establishing a dedicated minister for women’s safety and health. We also hope to receive more responses on our research survey to adapt our campaign”.
Athrú are currently running a petition which currently has 1,420 Verified signatures and a research form as they believe a women’s minster “Would help fill the gap on focus about the issues in our government, and could help drive forward change for the better.”
Calling on people to sign the petition, Pearse O’Neill, project manager said: “As a wave of alarming recent statistics have highlighted severe gaps in women’s safety and healthcare in Northern Ireland – from rampant gender-based violence to extensive delays in medical treatment, particularly for conditions like endometriosis – women are being put in needless danger.”
To see the petition online visit: https://www.change.org/p/establish-a-dedicated-women-s-safety-minister-in-northern-ireland?recruiter=1109730055&recruited_by_id=f0eb8e30-a721-11ea-a64d-dd05d422ccbf&utm_source=share_petition&utm_campaign=petition_dashboard_share_modal&utm_medium=copylink
Student journalist UUC
- Sinéad Kelly
- Sinéad Kelly
