Paramilitaries 'control communities with justice schemes'

The Independent Monitoring Commission (IMC) expressed concern today that paramilitaries are using some neighbourhood justice schemes in the North as cover to control communities.

In its latest report on republican and loyalist activity, the ceasefire watchdog repeated its view that restorative justice schemes, which bring the perpetrators of low level crime face to face with victims in their areas, have a role to play in the criminal justice system.

But the commissioners said they had been made aware of a number of cases where restorative justice was being used to enable paramilitaries to exert their influence over areas.

In some cases, the victims of crime or alleged offenders felt they were being threatened by people in the schemes with paramilitary links.

The IMC reported: “There have been some instances of people known for their involvement in community restorative justice schemes, and sometimes apparently speaking in the name of such schemes, who have tried to exert improper pressure on individuals, whether victims, alleged offenders, or members of their families.

“Those who have exerted this pressure are sometimes also known for their paramilitary connections.

“As reported to us, this pressure is seen by those on whom it is exerted as intended to secure the disposal of the crime without recourse to the criminal justice system, including the police - for example, by requiring the alleged offender to move to another location or to refrain from visiting certain places in future.

“While the allegations put to us may not always have involved actual violence against victims or alleged offenders, they have sometimes referred to what has been described as an ’undercurrent of threat’ – and threat has been sufficient.

“The second feature of the accounts has been the type and seriousness of some of the offences, which fall well outside the scope of ordinary restorative justice schemes.

“As a matter of general principle, for example, violent offences against the person and sexual offences are not appropriate for restorative justice.”

In December the British government put out to consultation proposals to publicly fund restorative justice schemes provided they operate within guidelines.

Until now, the schemes have received private backing.

Unionists have criticised the plan, claiming it puts police involvement at an arm’s length in republican areas.

The SDLP has also attacked the plans, warning the British government it could result in paramilitary warlords acting like law lords in their own communities.

Supporters of the schemes, such as Sinn Féin, argue they are a viable alternative to paramilitary punishment beatings, shootings and expulsions.

The IMC noted the IRA has in recent months encouraged its members to get involved in justice schemes in their neighbourhoods.

The commission acknowledged some ex-paramilitaries were playing a positive role in restorative justice programmes and they insisted they did not want to tar all the schemes with one brush.

But while they recognised that in some cases members of the public may not have been aware some restorative justice volunteers were no longer involved in terror groups, the commissioners insisted some people were using the schemes to either exert paramilitary influence or give that impression.

“We have not been able to date to determine how widespread this phenomenon really is, though we do not doubt it is happening and we believe that it delays the firm establishment of a culture of lawfulness,” the report said.

“The more benign interpretation is that it is part of the difficult process of transition from a world where violence and threats were the norm and the writ of the agencies of the criminal law did not effectively run and that it is, therefore, a passing phase.

“The more sinister and worrying interpretation is that it represents a deliberate tactic on behalf of paramilitaries to find new means of exerting their control now that violence or other crude threats are less open to them; and that by this means they can prolong a situation where people turn to them rather than the forces of the law.

“To the extent that there is evidence that activities of this kind are promoted by paramilitary groups, as such they fall within our terms of reference and we will continue to monitor them.”