Recommendation 4

We are concerned to hear about the gatekeeping of funding and other activity by paramilitary groups which has increasingly excluded women and the community and voluntary sector since the signing of the Belfast/Good Friday Agreement. This has implications for the construction of a post-conflict society in Northern Ireland. We are therefore pleased to note that the Government has included Northern Ireland in its latest action plan to implement United Nations Security Council Resolution 48 The effect of paramilitary activity and organised crime on society in Northern Ireland (UNSCR) 1325, which recognises women’s perspectives, rights and role in relation to peace and security. However, the Government must set out how its commitment to co-design a strategy on ending violence against women and girls with stakeholders in NI will receive final approval if the Executive remains, or is once again, suspended.