Activisim days against violence

Sixteen days of activism against gender violence is due to be launched in Northern Ireland later.

Delegates from the health professions, policing, justice and women's sectors will hear the extent of violent abuse that women experience globally.

Women's Aid said the PSNI respond to a domestic incident every 22 minutes in Northern Ireland.

Its conference, which will also address human trafficking, gets under way in Belfast on Monday.

Annie Campbell, director of Women's Aid Federation, said: "Women's Aid has been supporting women affected by domestic violence for 30 years.

"Women rarely experience one form of violence in isolation.

"We know from supporting victims that there is often a horrific tale of interlinked abuse, which can include multiple rapes, forced prostitution, physical abuse, elder abuse and child abuse."

She said many women who were trafficked into Northern Ireland were themselves victims of domestic violence in their country of origin.

"Violence against women is endemic across the world," she said.

"This is intolerable; it is a global abuse of women's human rights. It is time for all of us to face the facts and work together to end all forms of violence against women."