Background to the Research

• There has been relatively little analysis to date of the role that children and young people have played within the 'Troubles' of NI.
• Sporadic violence still occurs along the 'interfaces' of NI, which separate residents of each community. Whilst some of this violence is organised by paramilitary groups, at least some is perpetuated by groups of young people engaged in 'recreational rioting'.
• NI is also experiencing an increase in drug availability and usage, drug-related crime, racketeering criminal activity and racist and homophobic attacks.
  

Research Approach

• Researchers carried out 15 interviews with adults who had been involved as children and young people in paramilitary groups on both sides of the conflict over the last thirty years. Further interviews were held with young people aged between 15 and 24 years who were not members of paramilitary organisations but lived in areas severely affected by the conflict. Most of the interviewees came from Belfast or Derry/Londonderry, or large towns in Antrim.
  

Main Findings

• Young people from both communities who currently participate in violence tend not to have access to guns, which are tightly controlled by paramilitary groups. There was ambiguity as to whether they would use guns if they were available.
• Violence is typically between rival groups of young people who are loosely organised groups from the same community, rather than formal gangs.
• Young people from both sides who participate in rioting generally have no direct links to paramilitary groups. However, many still know how to make blast bombs, and carry knives or other weapons to attack and defend their 'territory'. Which weapon is used depends on the characteristics of the person whom they are fighting.
• Those who participated in sectarian fighting between Catholics and Protestants learned how to make petrol bombs and soda bombs by observing others around them.
• Young people talked about their 'anti-social' behaviour as beginning from a young age. This could include vandalism, shoplifting, stealing cars and drug abuse. They also spoke of their experience of 'punishment' from the paramilitaries for partaking in such activities. Punishments range from threats, to exclusions, to physical punishment, including the use of firearms. Paramilitaries are seen to 'police' the community due to gaps in policing.
• Young interviewees also spoke of widespread drug and alcohol use from a young age, primarily for escapism or relaxation.
• There have been some limited attempts of the recruitment of children into dissident Republican groups.
• Loyalist groupings believe that unless they recruit, they become vulnerable to being overwhelmed by their rivals in the community. Young people report feeling 'safer' if they belong to one group or another.
• Ulster Young Militants have produced a written statement saying that they do not recruit anyone under the age of 16.
• None of the youths interviewed had any comments to make about their own politicisation. They appeared to have a very different relationship to politics compared to those previously involved in the political conflict.
• The informal groupings of 'Republican' or 'Loyalist' Youth tend to focus on self-defence and defence of their territory in the segregated environments in which they live.
• Many young Catholics felt that the police discriminated against them and in favour of young Protestants.
• Young interviewees had bleak expectations of the future. Some spoke only of the desire to continue 'partying' and drinking, and unemployment was rife in the interviewees' social circles. Others feared that if they had children in the future, they might 'end up like me', facing the same problems that they are at present.
• The research highlights two successful community restorative justice schemes, one in Catholic areas, CRJI and one in Loyalist areas, NI Alternatives. These were formed to provide an alternative method of approaching breakdowns in relationships in the community as a result of crime and anti-social behaviour, as opposed to turning to paramiliary groups.
• CRJI have 15 local projects in NI. They have trained over 1000 people in methods of restorative justice and have dealt with 1700 cases in the last four years, with a satisfactory outcome in 92% of cases. Members of the community bring forward a complaint and mediate a local resolution with the consent of the victim, and the perpetrator is supervised in carrying out the terms of the agreement.
• NI Alternatives has 4 programmes and has operated since 1989 in the Shankill area, handling 129 referrals related to punishment threats. Most of those they work with are males between the ages of 10-22. Punishment beatings in the Shankill have been reduced, with 87% of closed cases successfully completed. Frequent activities included in the contracts were volunteer work, victim restitution, alternative schooling, prevention programmes, individual and group counselling, drug and alcohol awareness programmes and family support.
• The study also draws attention to Ógra Shinn Féin, the youth section of Sinn Féin. It provides an effective alternative for young people to membership of the IRA by providing a channel for political expression and participation. Their manifesto acknowledges that young people are not necessarily apolitical, but many feel that politicians don't represent their interests.
• Ógra Shinn Féin also raises issues about the lack of participation of, or consultation with, young people in decisions taken by government that affect young people.
• On the other hand, whereas once the act of joining Sinn Féin was seen as rebellious, the party is now so successful that its ability to attract more marginalised young people is limited. Ógra Shinn Féin members tend to be focused, articulate and accomplished rather than angry, disaffected and marginalised. A second concern is related to the robustness of the IRA ceasefire and the role of Ógra Shinn Féin should the IRA return to war.

Recommendations

• Establishment of a justice system that has the confidence of all. Paramilitary groups have operated a rough justice system, largely targeted at young people in those communities. A justice and policing system that has the support of all is essential if young people's involvement in armed violence is to be addressed comprehensively.
• Change the balance in existing interventions. Priority should be given to preventative work with young people at risk of perpetrating acts of violence, rather than focussing so heavily on those already convicted.
• Address alcohol abuse. Almost all of the anti-social violence encountered during this research was fuelled by alcohol.
• Prevent educational exclusion. Almost all the anti-social violence committed by young people followed on from early educational failure. Proper assessment of disruptive and under-performing pupils is needed as well as an improvement in the availability of schools psychological services. Where possible, school exclusions should not be used, as this compounds the problems for the young person concerned.
• Provide a nutrition and diet service for deprived communities. Research has shown that nutritional deficiency has severe adverse effects on concentration and educational performance.
• Provide violence education in schools, so that children can learn from an early age the causes and effects of violence, alternatives to it, and how to stay safe.
• Resist punitive policies, such as the recently introduced Anti-Social Behaviour Orders, which merely replicate the physical exclusion enforced in the past by paramilitary groups in NI.
• Involvement of the Children's Commissioner to take up the range of issues relating to the involvement of children and young people in armed violence.
• Implement the Good Friday Agreement. Community-based schemes to support young people referred to in the document have not been implemented. Provision for young people who have an involvement in armed violence must be established and mainstreamed.
• Acts of completion by armed groups. This would create a more secure future for young people, and would effectively demobilise those already recruited into the armed groups concerned.
• A Demobilisation, Demilitarisation and Reintegration strategy for NI. This would be to ensure that those, including young people, involved in armed groupings do not continue to pose a threat to peace and stability and would ensure that former combatants are able to integrate into their communities and obtain employment and/or education.