Freedom from Sectarian Harassment & The Right to Choose your Residence: state practice and paramilitary housing intimidation 25 years on from the GFA.

In 1998 the parties to the Good Friday Agreement affirmed rights that included rights to ‘choose your residence’ and ‘freedom from sectarian harassment’. Almost a quarter of a century on recent figures record that almost 1,400 persons have presented as homeless due to paramilitary intimidation in the last five years. Actual sectarian and racist intimidation and the broader threat of it continue to be the primary factor in shaping housing segregation and consequent inequality. Yet a 2015 UK assessment of the activities of paramilitary groups, that enumerated numerous other areas of crime attributed to elements of loyalist groups, made no reference at all to housing intimidation, nor did a consequent Stormont Action Plan for Tackling Paramilitary Activity. Official data on the source of threats has also been obfuscated and difficult to obtain, processes for dealing with intimidation tend to continue to focus on moving victims and there is a limited intervention to remove sectarian and racist expression in public space that precedes or facilities housing intimidation. This seminar will present evidence gathered by CAJ critiquing state practice in this area.