Source · Select Committees · Northern Ireland Affairs Committee
Recommendation 7
7
Acknowledged
Paragraph: 53
Embed a safeguarding approach to prosecute paramilitary activity as modern slavery and exploitation.
Recommendation
Low prosecution rates for those who commit violent crime can act as a barrier to reporting the crimes of paramilitary groups and serve to perpetuate the impunity with which these groups act. An effective criminal justice system able to identify perpetrators of paramilitary violence and bring them to justice is of paramount importance. The Government must set out how it plans to support the Executive in 2024 to improve clearance rates for paramilitary-style attacks, and work with the NI Department of Justice to embed a safeguarding approach to paramilitary activity to enable its prosecution as coercion, modern slavery and child criminal exploitation.
Government Response Summary
The government acknowledges the importance of safeguarding and prosecuting paramilitary-related crimes, noting that the devolved NI Executive is taking forward work including a Child Criminal Exploitation Task and Finish Group and an MSHT Strategy, which aim to strengthen the criminal justice system.
Paragraph Reference:
53
Government Response
Acknowledged
HM Government
Acknowledged
The UK Government acknowledges the importance of work to ensure that the Northern Ireland framework for safeguarding children and young people protects those abused by paramilitary or organised crime gangs. This is a policy area for which responsibility has been devolved to the NI Executive. The restoration of the NI Executive provides an important opportunity to make progress on this issue. Following advice from the NI Children’s Commissioner, a Child Criminal Exploitation Task and Finish Group was established by the cross departmental Child Protection Senior Officials Group (CPSOG) to make recommendations on an improved system wide response to child criminal exploitation, drawing on lessons learned from the EPPOC. The Northern Ireland Department of Justice, working jointly with the Department of Health, led on the work of the Task and Finish group and its recommendations were subsequently approved by CPSOG. The CCE action plan that has been developed is monitored through the CPSOG sub-group with an implementation timescale of 24 months. Funding has also been secured from EPPOC for a dedicated CCE Professional Officer employed by the Safeguarding Board for Northern Ireland (SBNI) and work on a number of key CCE actions will be coordinated through the SBNI Child Exploitation Committee. Across the departments and partner agencies involved in the Task and Finish group, a definition for child criminal exploitation has now been agreed for NI, informed by research with young people on their perceptions and experiences of child criminal exploitation in NI. The definition takes account of Home Office guidance. Work is ongoing to include the new definition in relevant policies and procedures. It is intended that policies will be updated before the end of the year. In turn the implementation of these policies should strengthen the criminal justice system’s ability to prosecute offenders and improve prosecution rates. Other actions in the CCE action plan include, in line with the draft three-year Modern Slavery and Human Trafficking (MSHT) Strategy 2024–27, increasing awareness of offences as they relate to children in the Human Trafficking and Exploitation (Criminal Justice and Support for Victims) Act NI 2015 (“the 2015 Act”) and consideration of whether it is in the child’s best interests to make a referral into the National Referral Mechanism. The draft MSHT Strategy 2024–27 also includes a number of actions to improve support for child victims and to increase awareness of the NRM across a range of agencies in Northern Ireland.