Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
Actions could be deemed as ‘child abuse’
NORTHERN Ireland’s children’s commissioner has said the behaviour of some adults in relation to the unrest in the region amounts to child abuse.
Kids as young as 12 are said to have taken part in some of the riots during the week, while three male teenagers, all aged 14, were arrested following unrest on Friday night.
Commissioner Koulla Yiasouma said children were being coerced into participating by adults, and that this could amount to child abuse.
She told BBC Radio 4; “This is criminal exploitation and coercion by adults of vulnerable and at-risk children and young people and these adults have to be held accountable and stopped.
When asked if it amounted to abuse of children, she replied: “Child abuse is a very loaded term but I think it is within that safeguarding family of abuses children may suffer and experience.
“When it comes to safeguarding issues I would put it in that group, yes.”
“Enough is enough when the first petrol bomb or stone is thrown. It’s criminal actors trying to take control and what we need is a calm narrative from our politicians.”
Ms Yiasouma called on the UK Government not to dismiss the concerns of people living in Northern Ireland.
She added: “We are living a reality here. When you work on a protocol, when you decide on something like Brexit or any other policy that has an impact on Northern Ireland – understand what’s going on on the ground, talk to those communities and young people, find out what it might mean.”