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AN Awareness Walk hosted by the Inner Wheel Club of Omagh to highlight the need to end violence against women and girls will take place tomorrow (Tuesday).
The event is all-inclusive with those who wish to participate urged to meet at the Grand Council Offices in Omagh at 12.30pm.
Chartered 100 years ago, Inner Wheel is the largest women’s voluntary service organisation in the world with over 115,000 members in 100 countries.
It is using the power of women to support UniTE and ‘Orange the World’ initiatives by UN Women by raising awareness of the global crisis of violence against women through its global campaign.
Last week, almost 100 people attended an event organised by the Inner Wheel Club of Omagh, titled ‘Ending Violene Against Women and Girls in Fermanagh and Omagh’.
Among the main speakers was Kerri Flood, interim director of Fermanagh Women’s Aid.
She told attendees that women and children locally now face a ‘high-risk scenario’, with the border region being used by abusers to avoid detection.
“There are lovely benefits to living in rural communities… they’re tight-knit and supportive,” she said. “But with that comes visibility, and it is often harder to report incidents of domestic violence.
“There is a real lack of infrastructure across a rural council area like Fermanagh and Omagh. Domestic abuse does not get better – it gets worse and escalates over time. In a rural setting, that means far higher risk for women and children.”
Although the district accounts for only a small proportion of Northern Ireland’s population, it has recorded a disproportionately high rate of femicides.
