NUJ supports motions on ending violence against women and girls and challenging racism
On the second day of the ICTU Congress, Kathryn Johnston, Northern Ireland representative of the NUJ’s Irish Executive Council, has addressed delegates.
Supporting a motion on ending violence against women and girls, Johnston said: “There have been 41 confirmed femicides in Northern Ireland since 2017. Make that 42 as of last week.”
She added:
“The true scale of gender-based violence against women remains largely hidden due to a lack of focused official statistics and a clear definition of femicide. As populations become more diverse, and displacement secondary to environmental, or humanitarian crises becomes more common, it is essential that we act and act now.”
Johnston urged Congress to recognise the urgent imperative of a Shared Island approach to address violence against women and girls.
“Before any more women or girls are murdered, attacked, intimidated, harassed, bullied and tortured.”
Supporting motion 45 on ‘challenging racism, All Forms of Hatred and Promoting Rights and Equality for All’, Johnston referenced her hometown of Ballymena where race riots occurred weeks ago. “For those who don’t know, it used to be the constituency of Ian Paisley. It’s better known now as the birthplace of Liam Neeson.” she said.
Noting that riots had been mainly directed at the Roma population, but rapidly spread to other groups, she added “But it’s not all dark in Ballymena.”
Johnston said:
“Last Saturday, the town hosted its first ever Pride parade. It was an overwhelming success. Over 1000 people marched, and many more watched and cheered the marchers.
“The majority of the marchers were young people.
“UNISON, NIPSA, UNITE and many other trades unionists supported the parade and marched together in solidarity
“I have a message from Curtis Coburn, the young man who organised the parade. He asked me to read this out here today. It’s for all of you.
‘A massive thank you to the unions for their immense support and donations, on behalf of myself and the MEA Pride committee. We couldn’t have done it without them all. Pride in Ballymena is here to stay & we hope to have the ongoing support of our fantastic unions for many more years to come.’
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