COMMUNICATIONS CAMPAIGNS
Ending the Harm is a series of hard-hitting public awareness campaigns that highlight organised crime and paramilitary activity and how this can have a devastating impact on victims, their families, local communities and wider society. The current campaign highlights how paramilitary gangs use illegal money lending to control and coerce vulnerable people.
CAMPAIGN 1: I AM YOUR MONEY
In 2016, we launched our first public awareness campaign which looked to highlight how buying illegal fake or stolen goods can end up funding organised crime gangs.
Illegal goods such as fake football shirts, fake designer handbags or cheap make-up can cause harm to communities, as proceeds from the sale of these goods provide a source of income to criminal gangs who can make millions of pounds. This money can then be used to fund criminal activities such as drug dealing, fraud and extortion, all of which can impact people, families and communities across Northern Ireland.
CAMPAIGN 2: Tackling Paramilitary Style Assaults (2018-2020)
Research carried out by the Northern Ireland Office in 2017 found that, nearly 20 years after the Good Friday Agreement, 35% of people in Paramilitary Style Assault (PSA) ‘Hot spot’ areas supported PSAs in certain circumstances.
During 2016/17 PSA shootings doubled and casualties from brutal beatings increased. The Department of Justice set out to challenge this acceptance and transform it into a rejection of PSAs.
A hard-hitting public awareness campaign was launched in 2018 to tell the story of a mother faced with the impossible choice of taking her teenage son to be shot. A powerful story of a deeply disturbing reality.
The campaign was very effective and reducing acceptance of PSAs in certain circumstances to 19%; and during research a further 32% changed their opinions having just watched the TV commercial.
Real life stories of paramilitary style assaults
Debbie Watters
John Clarke
CAMPAIGN 3: Tackling Illegal Money Lending (2021-2023)
Illegal money lending is a growing issue but in Northern Ireland it is another tactic for paramilitary gangs to control our communities. Unfortunately, this is normalised behaviour and the lenders are seen as protectors of the community.
In 2021 the Department of Justice launched a campaign to challenge the acceptability and normalisation of illegal money lending.
Having engaged with victims, community groups and charities, the Police Service of Northern Ireland and illegal money lenders the campaign was developed to expose the frightening escalation of these situations so that potential victims understand the implications.
Two campaigns were launched to tell the stories of victims, struggling to make ends meet, that are exploited and preyed on by illegal money lenders.
Campaign Films
Real life stories of exploitation
CHARITY WORKER
Business owner
Widow
SINGLE PARENT
CAMPAIGN 4: ENDING THE HARM
The current phase of the Ending the Harm public awareness campaign launched in October 2024. This campaign is developed to specifically ‘call out’ a number of ways that paramilitary groups control, coerce and harm communities.
Five new campaign statements were developed covering drugs, child criminal exploitation, violence against women and girls, and the so-called ‘protection money’ demanded from local businesses. The campaign appears on billboards, at bus stops, on the sides of buses, and on digital and social media platforms.
These new posters are specific examples of the types of often ‘hidden’ harms that are perpetrated by paramilitary gangs against their communities. The campaign aims to help address this by providing a means of publicly exposing the issues, and providing victims with information about where to get support if they need.
