FERMANAGH Women's Aid has welcomed the announcement that the Domestic Abuse and Civil Proceedings Bill has passed its final stage in the Northern Ireland Assembly.

The Bill, which was passed on Monday, January 18, recognises 'coercive control' as a criminal offence.

Coercive control is an act or a pattern of acts of assault, threats, humiliation and intimidation or other abuse that is used by a perpetrator to harm, punish, or frighten their victim.

Following the passing of the Bill, Minister for the Department of Justice, Naomi Long, said: "There is no shame in being a victim of domestic abuse or coercive control – the shame lies with the abuser."

Minister Long continued: "Completion of this legislation will play a crucial part in giving victims the courage to know that they are not in the wrong – they have nothing to be ashamed of – they will be believed, and to know the system works and, importantly, that it has their back.

“Training will be essential to the success of the offence, and this is now the focus of my Department, as well as our statutory and voluntary sector partners. Public awareness is also key.

"I am committed to ensuring that everyone recognises that domestic abuse, whether physical or non-physical, has no place in the homes of Northern Ireland, and will not be tolerated,” said the Justice Minister.

Welcoming the news that coercive control will now be recognised as a criminal offence in Northern Ireland as part of the new legislation, Michelle Alonso, Training Co-ordinator at Fermanagh Women’s Aid, told The Impartial Reporter: "Victims and survivors of domestic violence and abuse in Northern Ireland have waited too long for coercive control to become an offence here.

"We are behind the UK and Ireland in protecting those who are often the most vulnerable in our society.

"It’s a landmark moment in Northern Ireland’s approach to domestic abuse."

Now that coercive control is to be recognised as a criminal offence, Michelle believes this will lead to a criminal justice system which "more accurately reflects the reality of domestic violence".

"It will facilitate the justice agencies to put more domestic violence perpetrators behind bars, where they belong," she said, adding: "It’s more reflective of the reality of what we would see in Women’s Aid in Fermanagh and, obviously, throughout Northern Ireland as well.

"The reality is that coercive control is a strategic pattern of behaviour which is really designed to exploit, control and create dependency and dominate, so the woman’s everyday existence is micro-managed.

"It’s there to isolate, manipulate and terrorise women into fearful obedience."

Michelle explained that although coercive control is prevalent in all domestic violence relationships, women could only seek criminal convictions if they had been physically harmed.

"For service users of ourselves, almost half of domestic violence victims experience no crime – they were experiencing coercive control, with no physical violence.

"They had nowhere to go [but] with this legislation coming through, these women now have an avenue through the courts," Michelle told this newspaper.