Truth Recovery and Reconciliation must be at the heart of any new legislation on the Troubles

The statement by Brandon Lewis, Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, in the House of Commons this afternoon reiterating the British government’s proposal for a de facto amnesty in the shape of a statute of limitation for all those who committed offences during the Troubles, between 1968-98,  comes as no surprise to anyone monitoring the ailing peace process as it has been flagged repeatedly from Westminster for over a year.

It will cause despair to many victims and survivors of the Troubles, in Britain as well as Ireland. Some of these families have been waiting for half a century for ‘Truth and Justice’ through the courts. Nor are other parties to the Stormont House Agreement immune from criticism. All have paid lip service to prioritising the needs of victims and survivors, but they have never been able to deliver in terms of proposals and processes that work. This has never stopped them from blaming others for the unremitting suffering that failure to  reach a solution has inflicted on all those affected by the Troubles, including in many cases their own members and supporters.

We believe that the Truth Recovery Process offers the best hope for victims and survivors to establish who was responsible for the loss and injuries they suffered, and why it happened. It also proposes to do so in a way that would help achieve reconciliation rather than reopen old wounds.

It is of course still possible to do so, even if the prospect of prosecuting those responsible is no longer an option. However, by removing that prospect completely, an amnesty in the form of a statute of limitation would remove the most powerful incentive for some former combatants to come forward and engage with victims and their families.

Hopefully, this latest British proposal is only an opening gambit at the start of the current consultation process with the Irish government, victims groups and Northern Ireland parties on Legacy issues. Like some previous proposals, they well may prove incompatible with Britain’s international commitments under the Belfast Good Friday Agreement, and may fail to comply with its’ obligations under the European Convention on Human Rights.

Padraig Yeates

1913 Committee