Support in Ni is ‘not good’

A member of a Stormont assembly has stated that the support for so -called revenge porn in Northern Ireland is “not enough”.

Social Democratic and Labor Part’s Kara Hunter said the absence of help to target and remove shared intimate materials without consent showed “lack of urgency”.

Northern Ireland is the only part of the UK and Ireland, with no publicly funded service to take or remove intimate images.

The Department of Justice (DOJ) said: “As the intimate image misuse becomes an increasing issue, ministers are eager to increase services.”

Intimate image misuse, usually referred to as revenge porn, sharing someone’s sexual images without their consent, without both online and offline.

Hunter, who was himself Hunt of a ‘deep fake’ In which a pornographic video was replaced digitally to look like him, DOJ has urged to fund a service that finds and removes images with non-confidential images for the victims.

Similar services are funded to operate in England, Scotland and Wales and Ireland Republics.

A victim whose intimate images were shared without consent told BBC News Ni: “I wanted everyone to know that they were removed.”

Olivia (not his real name) informed the police about the incident that after knowing that he had shown the photo sent to a man to others in his community.

When the Public Prosecution Service (PPS) decided not to prosecute, Olivia said that she felt “completely rejected” and there was no way to ensure that those images were removed.

“Although justice is great, it would not help me because I don’t know if those images still exist,” he said.

He claimed that an officer told him if he had not shared the images, it would not be in that position.

“I had no sympathy to me, and it was as if both people were suffering,” he said.

The PPS said that it was concluded that “the evidence available in the case was inadequate”, and the police Lokpal said it was “unable to prove Olivia’s charge or deny that the authorities had” insensitive behavior “.

“This is such a cruel crime,” said Hunter.

“It is a way to feel people exposed, humiliated, embarrassed, embarrassed.

“This is frightening. I have sat in my constituency with the victims who have been completely destroyed.”

The Revenge Porn Helpline is funded by the Home Office in England and Wales and the Scottish government in Scotland.

Its manager, Sophie Mortimer said: “Women often come to us and say ‘I am very sorry that I am coming to you for help, I am very stupid’, and I say, ‘No,’ You have not done anything wrong, this is the one who has misused your faith.”

Ms. Mortimmer said that researchers of the helpline use “reverse image search and facial recognition” to identify the material on behalf of the victims.

They then contact the platforms to ask them to remove the images.

Hotline.Ie helps victims in the Republic of Ireland, although no equivalent service receives funds in Northern Ireland.

Without support, victims should manually discover the Internet using reverse image tools and scanning social media, forums and websites.

This involves filing separate reports for each image, often without removal of swift or meaningful support on each platform.

While the helpline stated that it would not remove the victims in Northern Ireland, it insisted that resources would be preferred for cases in England, Scotland and Wales where it is actually funded to help.

In a statement, DOJ said: “Residents of Northern Ireland may take advantage of the aid services of revenge for revenge or can visit their website.

“The department is fully associated with the Revenge Porn Helpline, which is formally to detect the options available to Northern Ireland to promote and promote its service.”

Hunter said the lack of funds for the services of material removal was “part of the problem”.

“Many revenge porn is undeniably wrongly connected and I think it is really important that we speak more about technical-facilities”.

The misuse of intimate image was criminalized in 2015 in England and Wales, by the Northern Ireland Assembly in 2016 and by the Scottish government in 2017.

The data obtained by the BBC under the freedom of information laws suggests that in 2024 there were 14 sentences in Northern Ireland and 12 in 2023.

The latest PSNI data shows that 91 cases were investigated in 2024, and 86 in 2023, but charities argue that the issue is very wide.

Details of support and support with sexual abuse in any form are available in the UK BBC Action Line,