Paramilitaries exploiting young people 25 years on from Good Friday Agreement

Promises made when the Good Friday Agreement was signed must be kept in the face of the child abuse being committed by paramilitaries who are exploiting young people more than two decades on, experts have warned. Some of the worst-affected communities are enduring residual violence and the trauma of the Troubles is still being experienced even by those who did not live through it, two academics said as Northern Ireland prepares to mark the 25th anniversary of the peace accord. Concerns have been raised in recent times about paramilitary groups coercing young people into rioting in order to settle drug debts, with both loyalist and dissident republican groups being blamed for using the tactic to force people on to the streets.