ADDRESSING THE LEGACY OF THE PAST – NIO PUBLISHES CONSULTATION RESPONSE
Today the Northern Ireland Office published Addressing the Legacy of Northern Ireland’s Past: Analysis of the Consultation Responses. Consultation was launched in May 2018. NIO received over 17,000 written responses including from KRW LAW LLP. Conflict-related Legacy litigation has developed as relatives of victims and survivors’ resort to the courts in the absence of state sponsored human rights compliant mechanism to investigate all Conflict related deaths and injuries.
The document published today is an analysis by NIO of the 17,000 responses to the Consultation, which developed out of the proposals under the Stormont House Agreement 2014. It is nota statement of British Government policy and legislative intentions in Dealing with the Past in Northern Ireland. In the absence of effectives administration at Stormont andWestminster it is very hard to predict when legislation will be bought forth from either Belfast or London to implement the proposals.
What is certain is that, as many responses have identified and advocated for, an investigative mechanism established by way of statute must be compliant with human rights standards and be independent of the state and unfettered by the constraints of National Security or fiscal restraint. KRW LAW LLP made these points in our submission. We also made it clear there must be mirror proposal for the Republic of Ireland.
The document states that “The Government remains fully committed to the implementation of the Stormont House Agreement and it is essential that our work continues.” Until that happens then Conflict-related Legacy litigation will continue to be the recourse of victims and survivors seeking truth, justice and accountability for the human rights violations incurred during the Conflict and which over-shadow the out-workings of the peace process in the North.