Equity, Mercy, Forgiveness: Interpreting Amnesty within the South African Truth and Reconciliation Commission

Wilhelm Verwoerd

In July 1997, during the first day of their amnesty hearing, my initial anger at seeing the applicants in person unexpectedly gave way to more mixed feelings of empathy and deep sadness

Wilhelm Verwoerd, past crimes and amnesties

Brice Dickenson

Wilhelm Verwoerd’s article on why he approved of the amnesty provisions in South Africa’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s process is fascinating.

Time out of mind: A response to Wilhelm Verwoerd

Cillian McGrattan

If things have happened in the past which have been disturbing, then how does the individual concerned deal with them?

Gender, Truth and Legacy

Fidelma Ashe

All official attempts at dealing with the past in Northern Ireland have marginalised gender issues. The occlusion of gender from processes designed to address the legacies of the region’s conflict is a direct consequence of how peace and conflict have been framed.

Canvassing Across the ‘Divide’

Mike Jennings

A poem about canvassing in the North during an election

I couldn’t see for lookin’

Eamon Baker

Back in the summer of 1971, when the Troubles were being ratcheted up, with riots, shootings and bombings becoming commonplace, and even with 75 people having already been killed, I was still in many ways a twenty year old 'innocent abroad'

The Truth about the Troubles

Ian McBride

Northern Ireland is a small region, comparable in size to Yorkshire or Connecticut, and with just 1.8 million inhabitants. But for scholars and students interested in the burgeoning field of memory studies it presents a vast academic safari park.

A Case Study of Mistaken Identity - featuring ‘John Wayne’ and ‘Comanche’

James Kinchin White

At around a quarter to eight on the morning of 15 April 1972, John and Gerard Conway were, as usual on a Saturday morning, walking along Whiterock Road to catch a bus to McQuillan Street on the Falls Road, where they had a fruit and vegetable stall. Within an hour, both brothers would be in the Royal Victoria Hospital with gunshot wounds.

Paramilitary Terror and Human Rights Violations

Liam Kennedy

The agonising wait by a hospital bed for the family of Detective Chief Inspector John Caldwell of the PSNI continues. An easy target for dissident republicans, he was shot multiple times after a children’s football training session near Omagh.

What would be an appropriate Memorial Archive?

Kathryn Johnson

The question of building a memorial to victims of the Troubles which is acceptable to all sections of the community here is problematic. There is dissent from some on the definition of victims.

Brian Maguire - Artist

Brian Maguire (72) is an artist based in Dublin and Paris. He is represented by the Kerlin Gallery (Dublin) and the Christophe Gaillard Gallerie (Paris).

Alleviating the Harms of the Troubles

Brice Dickson

I believe that the European Court would tolerate a ban on prosecutions if it was issued as part of a fulsome truth and reconciliation process. The Court’s case law is sparse on what steps can lawfully be taken to alter a criminal justice system as part of a transitional justice process, but it already accepts that states have a discretion to limit prosecutions, even for murder, if a lengthy period has elapsed since the commission of the crime.

The Politics of Apology and the Legacies of Conflict in Northern Ireland: Help or Hindrance?

Stephen Hopkins

The politics of apology are taking place in an ostensibly ‘post-conflict’ environment, but one in which the claims of victims and survivors of violence for judicial prosecutions and punishments for perpetrators are highly unlikely to be met.

An Idea So Controversial The Discussion Has Mostly Been In Private

Brendan Keenan

It is a long way from an amnesty for those seeking reconciliation, even redemption, to freedom from prosecution for everyone, whatever their actions and attitudes. I fully understand why, if a Truth Recovery Process was discussed, it would be rejected. The unfortunate thing is that the idea is so controversial that discussion has mostly been in private.

Some Childhood Memories Of Life In Turf Lodge

Forgotten Victims Of The Troubles

Liam Kennedy

Commissions of inquiry, North and South, have opened up the secret world of abuse in baby and child homes, industrial schools and reformatories within Irish society. A commission of enquiry that engages with those brutalised and tortured by loyalist and republican paramilitaries is long overdue.

Legacy Matters

Alan McBride

If ‘reconciliation matters’ then ‘Legacy Matters’…. You cannot engage in a process of reconciliation whilst leaving the past untreated like a weeping wound that has formed a scab.

Legacy And Oral History

Claire Hackett

Far from being an alternative, oral history narratives make clear why there needs to be a comprehensive and integrated approach to dealing with the past.

History And Remembering - Voices From The Past

Sam White

If things have happened in the past which have been disturbing, then how does the individual concerned deal with them?

Some Childhood Memories Of Life In Turf Lodge

Aine McCann

The soldier standing on the back of the jeep began to fire at the shops. We all ran. Someone held the door open for me as I ran with the pram into the bakery and over to the far corner and pulled the baby from the pram. We all lay on the floor.