Expulsions carried out by loyalist paramilitaries in the North intent on creating "homogeneous" communities must be halted, a new report said today.
The Stormont Northern Ireland Affairs Committee inquiry into relocations after paramilitary intimidation has urged the British government to show more support for the victims of what it calls a hidden legacy of the Troubles.
The menace was highlighted last summer when hundreds of families were forced to flee their homes after a bloody dispute erupted between the rival Ulster Defence Association and the Ulster Volunteer Force.
The report said: "Housing homogeneity appears to be a particular aim of the loyalist paramilitaries as in the case of the loyalist feud in parts of Belfast last year".
It stressed the need to avoid resettling those displaced from their homes by reinforcing existing housing patterns.
The committee has also urged the Housing Executive to outline how it will deal with the Northern Ireland Act's demands for public authorities to promote good relations between different religions when rehousing victims.
Although the report recognised "not all those subject to intimidation are paragons of virtue" it insisted summarily casting them out of their community by paramilitary law enforcers cannot be condoned.
The single greatest contribution to combating paramilitary exclusions will be greater public confidence in the rule of law, it said. But the committee said this alone was not enough.
It referred to the recent RUC report showing most crime gangs in the North have links to republican or loyalist paramilitaries and said their grip will have to be weakened generally.
The commitment shown by the police to tackling the menace was also welcomed by the report.
The Northern Executive was told to focus on those intimidated by paramilitaries when drawing up its strategy for tackling victims' needs through the programme for government.
PA