FAIT alleges 1,000 attacks

Families Against Intimidation and Terror claims more than 1,000 incidents of human rights abuses involving children have taken…

Families Against Intimidation and Terror claims more than 1,000 incidents of human rights abuses involving children have taken place this year, including murders, shootings, mutilations and exiling.

The pressure group has alleged that many incidents have been carried out by paramilitary prisoners, released under the terms of the Belfast Agreement.

Since the Belfast Agreement, the IRA has exiled 113 children and their families, and loyalists have exiled 56 children, according to figures published by FAIT. The IRA has intimidated 34 children and their families out of their homes and loyalists have evicted 40 families since April.

Around 28 children have been beaten or watched beatings being carried out by the IRA, with loyalists being responsible for beating 11 children or forcing them to watch attacks take place.

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Eight children have also been shot or forced to watch shootings since the Belfast Agreement was signed, with loyalists shooting three children or making them see someone being shot.

A spokesman for the pressure group, Mr Vincent McKenna, said the group collated the figures from its case files, supplemented by information from the RUC and statutory bodies, including hospitals and the social services. "A number of victims have said to us that people who were involved in the beatings and shootings were identified as prisoners released under terms of the Good Friday agreement," he said.