A specific offence of domestic abuse was introduced in Northern Ireland in March 2021 under section 1 of the Domestic Abuse and Civil Proceedings Act (Northern Ireland) 2021. This represents a crucial development in Northern Ireland’s response to domestic abuse. The new legislation has the effect of criminalizing coercive and controlling behaviour, therefore bringing Northern Ireland into line with the other jurisdictions within the United Kingdom and Ireland, and also with relevant human rights standards. Being the final jurisdiction within the United Kingdom and Ireland to criminalize such behaviour has enabled Northern Ireland’s approach to be informed by the legislation enacted in the other jurisdictions and, in some respects, has allowed Northern Ireland to ‘cherry pick’ the best aspects of the approaches of these jurisdictions. There are also aspects of Northern Ireland’s domestic abuse offence which differ from the approaches in any of the other jurisdictions in question. However, although the enactment of the domestic abuse offence is certainly a very positive development, this will not constitute a complete panacea to the problem of domestic violence in Northern Ireland. Legislation in itself is insufficient as regards addressing domestic abuse, and further sustained efforts are necessary to tackle this issue.

中文翻译：

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北爱尔兰新的家庭虐待罪

根据 2021 年《家庭虐待和民事诉讼法》（北爱尔兰）第 1 条，北爱尔兰于 2021 年 3 月引入了一项特定的家庭虐待罪。这代表了北爱尔兰应对家庭虐待的一项重要进展。新立法具有将强制和控制行为定为刑事犯罪的效果，因此使北爱尔兰与英国和爱尔兰的其他司法管辖区以及相关的人权标准保持一致。作为联合王国和爱尔兰境内将此类行为定为刑事犯罪的最终管辖区，北爱尔兰的做法能够参考其他管辖区颁布的立法，并且在某些方面，也让北爱尔兰能够“挑选”该法律的最佳方面。这些司法管辖区的方法。北爱尔兰的家庭虐待罪在某些方面也不同于其他任何相关司法管辖区的做法。然而，虽然家庭虐待罪的制定肯定是一个非常积极的发展，但这并不构成解决北爱尔兰家庭暴力问题的完整灵丹妙药。在解决家庭虐待方面，立法本身是不够的，需要进一步持续努力来解决这个问题。