Paramilitary groups who engage in formal talks about transition should receive no financial rewards, according to a new report.
The report was authored by Fleur Ravensbergen, who was hired by the British and Irish governments to explore the prospect of paramilitary disbandment in Northern Ireland.
She said a “window of opportunity” exists and recommended the establishment of an “independent, time-bound transition mechanism without delay”.
The Dutch conflict-resolution expert has held private talks with loyalist and republican paramilitaries as part of a scoping exercise over the past year.
Victims of paramilitary attacks, representatives from affected communities and those from a policing background also took part.
No individual or organisation is named in the report as “engagements were carried out on a confidential basis”.
Ravensbergen’s report, published on Tuesday, concludes there is “sufficient merit in and support for a formal process of paramilitary group transition”.
However, it cautioned that such a move can happen only “provided certain conditions are met”.
Credible monitoring and verification of progress, “robust” law enforcement and “no financial awards for paramilitary groups” were cited as key conditions in the Independent Report on Paramilitary Group Transition to Disbandment.
The willingness among loyalist and republican paramilitary groups to discuss transition and its implications was singled out as a “significant finding”.
In the case of loyalists, there was “often a clear appetite for it”.
Engagement with dissident republican paramilitary groups was “more mixed”, with some “more open than others to engagement”.
No group brought up “direct financial payments or early release from prison” as a condition of transition or accelerating progress towards it, the reports notes.
“Engagement was overall constructive and serious,” it states.
The 74-page document will be laid before London and Dublin governments on Tuesday.
Neighbourhood policing should also be strengthened so that Police Service of Northern Ireland officers can maintain a “sustained focus on their core role within the communities they serve”, the report recommends.
Targeted initiatives aimed at benefiting young people in communities affected by paramilitary harm should also be rolled out.
Those who engaged in the scoping exercise expressed a range of views on the prospect of a formal process of group transition, from “strongly opposed to fully supportive”, according to Ravensbergen, a lecturer at the University of Amsterdam.
“On the whole, I found that the majority were willing for the governments to explore something new, including direct engagement with paramilitary groups via a formal process, provided certain conditions were met,” she said.
There was “limited support” for the term “disbandment” among paramilitary groups to describe the endpoint of the transition process.
“However, objections to disbandment appeared to be less about what transition should achieve and more about the wording,” Ravensbergen said.
“In my view, agreeing the transition process, milestones and end-state of group transition is more important than terminology.”
Drug-related crime, extortion, illegal money lending and exploitation had an “increasing prominence” in communities where a paramilitary presence remains, the report found.
A growing anti-immigrant sentiment was also found in some areas.
Many of those interviewed acknowledged that “although good work has been done and progress made, something more is needed to advance progress towards ending paramilitarism”.
“I believe that the risks of the persistence of paramilitary structures, continued drift and unmanaged fragmentation outweigh the risks associated with attempting a structured and time-bound transition process,” added Ravensbergen.
“My consultations suggest that a window of opportunity exists to pursue further progress, but that this may weaken over time.
“For these reasons, I recommend the establishment of an independent, time-bound transition mechanism without delay. The UK government and the Government of Ireland should work together to develop this mechanism.”
The report warns that any formal transition process would face “significant implementation challenges”.
Success is “not guaranteed” as progress is “unlikely to be linear or uncontested”.
“Different paramilitary groups may participate at different times, move at different speeds and encounter different challenges,” it states.
“A future process would therefore need to manage uneven participation, fragmentation, internal disagreement, unexpected developments, legal complexities and changing political circumstances while maintaining confidence in its overall direction.”