Victims Want Commission

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Victims Want Commission

January 16, 2008

By Barry McCaffrey

VICTIMS groups this week called for the establishment of an international truth commission to deal with the 3,500 murders carried out during the Troubles.

The coalition of mainly Nationalist victims groups claim that the North’s court system had been used to frustrate rather than facilitate access to the truth surrounding hundreds of murders carried out during the 35-year conflict.

“We believe that current investigatory, prosecutorial and judicial arrangements offer no realistic prospect of truth recovery for bereaved families,” said Mark Thompson of the Relatives For Justice victims’ group.

“We believe that the only way to bring truth to the greatest number of families is through an international independent truth commission.

“This should be available as a mechanism for all victims who wish to have their cases investigated thoroughly. The focus of such a commission should be on truth and acknowledgement rather than prosecutions.”

Insisting that all groups should be compelled to give evidence to a truth commission, he said, “All combatant groups, British, Republican and Loyalist should cooperate in good faith and have a moral duty to do so.

“British and Irish state policies and actions and those of non-state actors and the role of civil society in both jurisdictions should be examined.”

The victims’ spokes-man said that a truth commission should be allowed freedom to establish the “causes, context and consequences” of the conflict.

“We believe that an independent international truth commission provides the best opportunity for truth recovery for the greatest number of those affected by the conflict.

“We believe this will contribute to individual and societal healing and recovery, dealing with the legacy of the past in a positive way and building a better future for everyone.”

Paul O’Connor of the Pat Finucane Center said that any new truth commission should be tailored to the specific needs of Northern Ireland.

“We are not calling for a South African-style confrontational truth and reconciliation commission with public hearings with alleged perpetrators getting up in rooms in front of hundreds of victims saying, ‘I did X, Y and Z,’” he said.

“We are calling for a process that is tailor-made to our circumstances. We are talking about largely private hearings.

“We are talking about an organization that can mediate that process of truth recovery from those who have it to those who need it and deserve it – the families who have lost loved ones right across the board.”

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