Students stormed the stage at the National Union of Students (NUS) annual conference in protest at the failure to debate motions related to the decriminalisation of abortion in Northern Ireland.
The conference, which is organised by the UK’s national students’ union, was forced to a temporary standstill as close to 100 students occupied the stage in the conference centre in Glasgow, chanting and making speeches.
The Northern Ireland delegation was at the centre of the occupation, taking over the stage in response to the conference session running out of time to discuss the motion on abortion law reform.
Northern Ireland is unique in the UK for its restrictive abortion law. Students from Queen’s University Belfast Students’ Union (QUBSU), Ulster University Students’ Union (UUSU) and the National Union of Students-Union of Students (NUS-USI) President, Olivia Potter-Hughes, all took part in the occupation, telling the conference that current NUS policy on the issue wasn’t good enough. NUS-USI represents students in Northern Ireland,
“This is a clear abuse of human rights and we want you to listen to us”, Rachel Powell, the Equality and Diversity Officer of Queen’s University Belfast Students’ Union (QUBSU), told the conference.
Speaking to The University Times, Powell said she was “outraged” by the failure to discuss the motion. The abortion rights movement is gathering steam in Northern Ireland, as the lack of access to abortion is debated in the shadow of the repeal the eighth referendum. Last year, thousands of people marched in support of abortion rights in Belfast.
According to Powell, the motion, asking NUS to support abortion reform in Northern Ireland and the repeal campaign in the South, was the victim of internal NUS politics. With various motions and amendments, some members of the conference tried to delay a vote on an earlier motion to prevent a later motion on the decriminalisation of sex work coming to the conference floor for a vote.
The motion on abortion rights, Powell said, fell victim to a campaign to prevent the vote on decriminalisation.
Powell said that NUS-USI has always tried to avoid the “toxic environment” of the NUS conference, which she said was characterised by “factions” and “infighting”.
Unlike the Union of Students in Ireland (USI) annual congress, which is chaired by external members, the NUS conference often sees fraught debates over chairmanship and speaking time.
The occupation received support from Beth Douglas, the LGBT+ Officer of the NUS and as well as members of the National Executive Council, which holds NUS officers accountable.
The action yesterday, Powell said, was “symbolic”. The union “won’t forget about Northern Ireland again”, she said. During the occupation, Northern Irish students wore USI’s “students for choice” jumpers.
“We won’t be a token.”
The council will hold an emergency meeting in the coming weeks to discuss the issue.
In an email statement to The University Times, USI Deputy President Síona Cahill, who was at the conference, said: “The Northern Irish delegation yesterday took a principled stand at NUS Conference to call for this issue to be heard. The fact is that people aren’t aware of the issues facing women trying to access abortion in Northern Ireland – either by the rest of the UK or in the Republic. People think there’s access, there’s not.”
“Whatever about the standing orders of NUS Conference around timing, this issue affects all jurisdictions and needs to be discussed at NUS level, as people are travelling for healthcare regardless of what part of the Island they are on, and it’s atrocious in this day and age”, she said.
