Northern Ireland paramilitaries ‘coercing and sexually exploiting young people’

Koulla Yiasouma, Northern Ireland Commissioner for Children and Young People (Liam McBurney/PA)

Paramilitary groups in Northern Ireland are subjecting young people to coercion, threats and sexual exploitation, a Westminster committee has heard.

The region’s Children’s Commissioner Koulla Yiasouma described both loyalist and dissident republican paramilitaries using young people “to do their dirty work”, such as drug dealing and civil disobedience.