Sign the petition for Justice for Dara here: https://www.iccl.ie/petition-justice-for-dara/
27 November 2020
*find here a full statement from Aileen Malone
The Irish Council for Civil Liberties (ICCL) and Aileen Malone, mother of deceased journalist Dara Quigley, have together called for urgent action on image-based sexual abuse. Dara Quigley took her own life after images of her arrest, naked, were circulated online in 2017. The source of the images was the Garda CCTV system.
The Oireachtas Justice Committee is due to discuss legislation on image-based sexual abuse on Tuesday, 1 December. This follows reports of a vault containing sexually-explicit images of Irish women and girls that were gathered and shared without consent. ICCL sent all members of the Oireachtas suggestions for improvements to the proposed legislation based on international best practice on Tuesday 24 November. ICCL will also present a petition calling for Justice for Dara to Justice Minister Helen McEntee on 30 November.
In 2017, there was no specific law which would criminalise the sharing of these images. Despite vigorous campaigning since, there are still no specific laws against it. The negative impact that sharing of explicit or sexual images can have on a victim of this type of abuse cannot be underestimated. It is unacceptable that many of these victims have no recourse to justice.
Minister McEntee must act now to end image-based sexual abuse, not only through legislating, but by taking preventive measures, including education and social awareness campaigns around the real impact of this abuse.
ENDS/
Statement from Aileen Malone: https://www.iccl.ie/2020/aileen-malone-statement/
Find ICCL’s submission to the Oireachtas here: https://www.iccl.ie/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/ICCL-UCD-Submission-on-Harassment-Harmful-Communications-Bill.pdf
Sign the petition for Justice for Dara here: https://www.iccl.ie/petition-justice-for-dara/
For comment: Doireann Ansbro, Senior Research and Policy Officer doireann.ansbro@iccl.ie
For media queries: Sinéad Nolan: sinead.nolan@iccl.ie 087 4157162