By Q Radio news
The justice minister is planning to bring a paper to the Executive within days - setting out a a strategy to protect women and girls.
Northern Ireland is the only part of the UK that does not currently have one.
Naomi Long's move follows a double weekend murder in Newtownabbey.
Police believe a man murdered his mother and girlfriend at separate homes on Friday before killing himself.
The women have been named locally as Karen McClean and Stacey Knell.
Naomi Long said it was an "absolute tragedy" to see women losing their lives to violence in Northern Ireland.
Earlier this month the Women's Aid launched a petition calling on the MLAs to tackle the problem of gender based violence.
Sonya McMullan from the charity says police dealt with over 32,000 domestic abuse incidents last year - which disproportiontely affects women and accounts for 17% of all reported crime:
(Justice Minister, Naomi Long)
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