Scroll down to find out more about this issue - including a summary for children and young people, background information including the relevant Children's Rights, how we are monitoring Government and our work in addressing the issue.
The impact of the ‘Troubles’ and the divisions underlying it, continue to significantly impact on the lives of our children and young people, all of whom were born after the Good Friday Agreement.
Separation and segregation continues to be a part of daily life for children and young people in Northern Ireland in accessing services, with segregated living significantly affecting how they live their lives. In Belfast, the vast majority of public housing is segregated into Protestant or Catholic areas. Children are largely educated in separate schools, with only 7% of children attending integrated schools.
More information for children and young people on the legacy of the troubles
More recently, there has been increasing recognition of the consequences of transgenerational trauma for children and young people in Northern Ireland, whereby children’s poor psychological health may result, in part, from the consequences of the trauma experienced by their parents.
The presence of paramilitary-style groups in certain communities is an ongoing legacy of the Troubles. NICCY is deeply concerned about the harm these organised groups inflict on children and young people, through intimidation, abuse, exploitation and coercive control. Unfortunately, due to gaps in data, the specific nature, scale and impact of paramilitary activity on children and young people in certain communities is in not fully clear.
As set out in our legislation, all our work is underpinned by children’s rights, notably the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, specifically here:
Article 13(1) of the UNCRC states that:
Article 19 of the UNCRC states that:
Article 37 of the UNCRC states that:
The NI Executive Plan on Tackling Paramilitary Activity, Criminality and Organised Crime (‘the Plan’) was published in June 2016 and contained 43 commitments in response to the Panel’s recommendations.
Monitoring progress of the Plan’s implementation is undertaken by The Independent Reporting Commission (IRC). The IRC have recommended a standalone outcome to tackle Paramilitarism in the Assembly Mandate 2022-2027.
NICCY has repeatedly called for a unified strategic response to protect children from harm, including abuse, violence, coercion and exploitation by organised gangs and groups. In our advice to government we have raised a range of concerns about young people’s safety related to the exploitation of young people, threats of and actual assault, threats to life; the exploitation of young people into criminal activities, the recruitment of young people into paramilitary or criminal gangs and various other concerns.
NICCY provided oral evidence to the Northern Ireland Affairs Committee on ‘The effect of paramilitaries on society in Northern Ireland’ on Wednesday 9 November 2022 – you can view the evidence here
For further information on our work on Legacy of the Conflict, contact rachel@niccy.org
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