Reconciliation and Victims of Violence
What the Good Friday Agreement says
From: Relatives for Justice (an organisation that supports victims of state violence)
11. The participants believe that it is essential to acknowledge and address the suffering of the victims of violence as a necessary element of reconciliation. They look forward to the results of the work of the Northern Ireland Victims Commission.
12. It is recognised that victims have a right to remember as well as to contribute to a changed society. The achievement of a peaceful and just society would be a true memorial to the victims of violence. The participants particularly recognize that young people from areas affected by the Troubles face particular difficulties and will support the development of community based initiatives based on international best practice. The provision of services that are supportive and sensitive to the needs of victims will also be a critical element and that support will need to be channeled through both statutory and community-based voluntary organisations facilitating locally based self-help and support networks. This will require the allocation of sufficient resources, including statutory funding as necessary, to meet the needs of victims and to provide for community-based support programmes.
Response
"That it is essential to acknowledge and address the suffering of the victims of violence"
Since the signing of the Good Friday Agreement there have been few obvious signs of acknowledgment of the suffering of all victims on an equal basis. This is particularly the case with people who have been bereaved by the State or its agents.
Almost 400 people have been killed directly by the British army and the RUC.
Not one member of the RUC has served a day in prison;
Four members of the British army were convicted for killing civilians, all were released early having served between three and six years of life sentences, and they were all readmitted to the army and promoted. Note: None of the releases were within the terms of the Good Friday Agreement.
One of those convicted, Lee Clegg recently had his conviction quashed.
Of the hundreds of murders by loyalists where collusion with state forces has been alleged there have been very few convictions, most have these allegations have not been investigated. The only investigation into aspects of collusion only, was that of the Stevens' Inquiry, which did not disclose its full findings.
When these hundreds of people were killed the families' experience was one of a hostile legal system and active harassment from the very forces which they believed were fully culpable in the killing of their loved ones.
There has been absolute impunity in these cases. The failure by the State whose authority it is, supposedly, to pursue, prosecute and convict those responsible, to hold anyone to account has added insult to injury.
Since the signing of the Good Friday Agreement there has been no recognition of the experience of this constituency of so-called victims.
The lack of active government support for the Saville Inquiry to get its work done must raise questions about the government's commitment to victims and their needs.
The government did not challenge a virulent media campaign that opposed the whole ethos of the government -established Inquiry and its transparency.
The government did not subsequently publicly support the Saville Inquiry following the Inquiry's defeat in the High Court. It is a form of inert backtracking, which is as undermining as any previous government policy on Bloody Sunday. It has been described as a micro-cosm of the backtracking seen since the signing of the Good Friday Agreement.
Sir Kenneth Bloomfield, the government appointed "guru" of the needs of victims has singularly refused to address or acknowledge the needs of people bereaved or injured by the State. In his reports he continually talks about the special place for members of state forces who have been killed. He refuses to offer recognition to people who have experienced the exercise of impunity in state killings and who have had no redress through the law.
The Bloomfield Report published in May 1998, actively failed to address
these needs. In this report he gave "special consideration" to the members
of the armed forces and prison officers killed. He elevated the position
of participants in the conflict who have been condemned by international
courts and agencies, as having perpetrated some of the most vile crimes
committed during that conflict. His report "We Will Remember Them" was flawed
by his lack of consultation and lack of recognition of all victims as equal.
(See Relatives for Justice response to the Bloomfield Report, May 1998;
and CAJ submission to the Victims Liaison Unit).
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