Ulster Volunteer Force - Affiliated Groups

Affiliated Groups

• The Red Hand Commando (RHC) is an organisation that was established in 1972 and is closely linked with the UVF.

• The Young Citizen Volunteers (YCV) is the youth section of the UVF. It was initially a youth group akin to the Scouts, but became the youth wing of the UVF during the Home Rule crisis.

• The Progressive Unionist Party (PUP) is the political wing of the UVF. In June 2010 their sole member in the Northern Ireland Assembly, their party leader Dawn Purvis, resigned from the PUP over the UVF being accused of involvement in the Moffett murder.

• The Protestant Action Force and, much less commonly, the Protestant Action Group were cover names used by the UVF to avoid directly claiming responsibility for killings and other acts of violence. The names were first used during the early 1970s.