They Shoot Children, Don't They?: An Analysis of the Age and Gender of Victims of Paramilitary "Punishments" in Northern Ireland

Author(s): Liam Kennedy
Document Type: Report
Year: 2001
Publisher: Queen's University Belfast
Place of Publication: Belfast
Subject Area(s): NI Conflict, Criminal Justice
Client Group(s) : Children, Victims

Abbreviations: NI - Northern Ireland

Background to the Research

  • Cases of paramilitary child abuse are common occurrences in Belfast and in some other parts of NI. A senior consultant surgeon in the Accident and Emergency department of the Royal Victoria Hospital reports the youngest such victim he has treated was just 14, with many others just a year or two older.

Research Approach

  • This report reviews and analyses data from the Central Statistics Unit of the Royal Ulster Constabulary, to consider the age and gender of victims of such punishments.

Main Findings

  • During the period 1988-2000, most victims of 'punishment' shootings were men in their twenties, accounting for just over half of all victims within loyalist and republican communities. A substantial minority were less than 20 years old.
  • Loyalists were responsible overall for more shootings than republicans (636 cases against 496), however a majority of the young victims were shot by republicans - 30% of victims in nationalist communities were less than 20 years of age; the corresponding figure for loyalists was 19%.
  • Republicans were responsible for slightly more assaults generally than loyalists. In terms of general assaults, republicans (primarily the Provisional Irish Republican Army) continued to select in favour of younger victims. Nevertheless, both loyalists and republicans can be noted to terrorise large numbers of very young people.
  • During the 1990s republican and loyalist paramilitaries each shot and intentionally wounded 36 youths aged 17 or younger. Loyalists carried out 78 assaults on children and juveniles, while republicans assaulted 111 children and juveniles in this period. Again, children and adolescents in nationalist areas were more likely to be the object of paramilitary abuse than those in loyalist communities.
  • Males from working class backgrounds were the overwhelming target of the paramilitary 'justice' system, although there were 2 recorded cases of shootings of women by loyalists during the 1990s. Loyalist terror groups committed 33 serious assaults on women between 1990 and 2000; republicans committed 23. Overall, women accounted for 4% of all 'punishment' victims, with loyalist paramilitaries more likely than republicans to select female targets.
  • Women must also be noted to suffer the trauma associated with 'punishments' due to their roles as mothers, wives, partners, sisters and daughters.
  • When the period up to and including the Good Friday Agreement (1990-1998) is compared with the two years following it (1999-2000), there was no improvement in relation to the number of shootings of young people. The annual average number of shootings was actually higher in the last two years. The trend over time in shootings and assaults on children and adolescents, since 1995, is clearly upwards, with an acceleration in punishment shootings as we come closer to the present.
  • Similarly, the trend in punishment assaults on children and juveniles is that they are not only more numerous than shootings, but they frequently cause more severe long-term damage.

Conclusions

  • Loyalist and republican paramilitaries mainly terrorise males in the younger age groups (less than 30 years old), with abuse of children reaching major proportions. Insufficient attention has been paid to the paramilitary abuse of children. If a Children's Rights Commissioner for NI is appointed, he or she should become actively involved in championing the rights of young people in the face of such abuse.
  • Women are much less likely to be the direct targets of paramilitary violence, but they are almost invariably implicated through their relationships with men.
  • The report concludes by noting that the trends in paramilitary punishments are deeply worrying - rather than decreasing due to participation in devolved governments, the levels have actually increased.

 


 

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