What are the risks of growing up in Interface Communities?

A joint report produced by the University of Liverpool's Institute of Irish Studies , Queen's University Belfast and the University of Notre Dame, Indiana released today (Friday, 25 March) sheds new light on the risks encountered by young people and children growing up in places of high religious segregation. Produced for the Office of the First Minister and Deputy First Minister , a devolved Northern Ireland government department in the Northern Ireland Executive with overall responsibility for the running of the Executive, the report assesses what types of risk affected young people and children growing up in places of high religious segregation or interface communities. Interface communities are areas in Northern Ireland where segregated nationalist and unionist residential areas share a physical boundary. Within Belfast these are the sites most commonly linked to sectarian violence and social deprivation. Negative impacts Within this report the authors looked at a series of risks faced by youth and children linked to that violence, both sectarian and non-sectarian, alcohol and illegal drug use and wider behavioural problems. It was found that the risk and experiences of harm and violence may have negative impacts upon development, emotional well-being and future prospects of youth and children. As such the aim of the report was to gain a better understanding of the types of risk that  young people and children encounter to help develop appropriate responses in terms of aiding better personal and community development with regard to health, work, education, fear and prejudice and wider opportunities.