Racist violence in Northern Ireland is not new, but the latest escalation is particularly horrifying. Authorities must act now to prevent further racist attacks. The answer to the violence must be justice and action.
Belfast, Paris, 11 June 2026. In Belfast, the latest escalation of racist violence followed a horrific crime on Monday night, captured on video and shared on social media, for which a Sudanese migrant has been arrested and charged with attempted murder. The organised pogrom which has ensued has seen racist attacks on homes of migrants and broader intimidation, including lists circulating of addresses.
The International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) and Northern Ireland member group CAJ (the Committee on the Administration of Justice) express deep concern at the racist violence and intimidation of migrants from their homes that has taken place in Belfast and other localities in the jurisdiction over this week.
“We are witnessing the manipulation and exploitation of a horrific crime to collectively scapegoat and target whole ethnic groups and communities who had nothing to do with it,” said Daniel Holder, CAJ Director, “What has made racist intimidation in Northern Ireland so dangerous has been the involvement of elements of loyalist paramilitary groups. This has been compounded in recent years with increased anti-migrant and Islamophobic far right organising and amplification online and in public space.”
CAJ and other groups in NI had been concerned in recent weeks, prior to this horrific crime, that there was an imminent risk of widespread racist violence for the third summer in a row. This was in the context of increased far right activity online and in public space in specific localities in recent weeks, including murals stirring up fear and racial hatred and presenting migrants collectively as a threat.
Authorities must act now against the racist onslaught
CAJ and FIDH urge the authorities in the UK and Northern Ireland to take immediate steps, including implementation of the relevant outstanding UN treaty body recommendations, to combat racism and far right activity in the jurisdiction.
It is notable that Northern Ireland’s official strategy to tackle paramilitary activity still includes no reference to paramilitary involvement in racist intimidation, despite an outstanding recommendation from the UK and Irish Governments’ own Independent Reporting Commission (IRC) on paramilitary activity to do so.
The Northern Ireland authorities also urgently need a robust anti-racism strategy to replace the current draft, which neither mentions far-right organising or paramilitary involvement in racist intimidation, nor contains any actions to address them.
There is also an urgent need to improve the regulation of social media providers to ensure there are obligations to remove content inciting violence or reaching the threshold of incitement to racial hatred.
The continuation of a long history of racist violence in Northern Ireland
CAJ with the trade union UNISON and tech partners the Rabble Cooperative produced two previous reports capturing online far right activity Mapping Far Right Activity Online in Northern Ireland: Project Report (May 2025) and Inciting a Pogrom? Social media and the racist disorder in Ballymena and Beyond during summer 2025
In summer 2024, the UN Committee on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (CERD), expressed concern over widespread reports of ‘paramilitary groups and affiliated individuals perpetrating acts of racist violence and intimidation to deter persons belonging to ethnic minorities and migrants from taking up housing or establish business in certain areas...’ In 2025, the UN ICESCR Committee urged authorities to ‘prevent and combat intimidation by paramilitary groups against ethnic minorities and migrants in Northern Ireland to ensure their access to adequate housing and to prevent de facto segregation.’
