British Government must honor its commitments on disclosure to victims

Posted by Jim on November 20, 2015

 

IN THE Stormont House Agreement that was reached in December 2014, the British government committed to providing full disclosure to families of victims of the conflict but have now done a U-turn from that position.The British government has failed to honour this agreement, just as they failed to honour the agreement for a full and independent inquiry into the killing of Pat Finucane.

It continues to cover up the actions of its agents, army, police and political establishment during the conflict in Ireland by using a ‘national security’ veto. Because of this, no agreement has been possible on dealing with the legacy of the past as part of the Stormont House Agreement and Implementation Plan announced on 17 November.

THE British government’s proposals on legacy are unacceptable, Sinn Féin MLA Conor Murphy said on 17 November following the conclusion of talks at Stormont.

“The British government’s proposals on legacy issues pre- sented during the most recent talks were about preventing the full disclosure to the families of victims of the conflict they committed to as part of the Stormont House Agreement last year.

“The ‘national security’ pretext for blocking disclosure is clearly nonsense as much of the information families are looking for is related to events 30 to 40 years ago.

“This is unacceptable and means that no agreement was possible on dealing with disclosure and the past.

Mr Murphy said Sinn Féin will continue to work with victims’ groups and families to hold the British government to account.

“The two governments committed to return to this issue to seek an early resolution – and we intend to hold them to that,” he said.

While welcoming the agreement, the Sinn Féin MLA criticised the role of the British and Irish governments throughout the talks process.

“The influence of Britain’s military establishment and security and intelligence agencies is the major factor in reinforcing the Westminster Government’s intransigence against revealing the truth about its role in the conflict,” he said.

“They are absolutely hostile to Sinn Féin being in government in the North and share with the Southern political establishment an opposition to the continued electoral rise of Sinn Féin in the 26 Counties.

“The British government has failed to honor the Stormont House Agreement on full disclosure to meet the needs of victims. “The Irish government must stand as a co-equal guarantor of the agreements, must honour its commitments and must hold the

British government to account. They have failed to do this.”

Victims groups criticise British government position on disclosure

“In their homes around the country, those who lost loved ones in the conflict will be privately grieving and angry at London’s insistence that it must be able to redact/censor reports from the proposed Historical Investigations Unit on ‘national security’ grounds.

“The PFC and JFF consider it totally unacceptable for the state to demand the right to conceal the actions of its agents in bombings, shootings and murders during the conflict. This was not part of the Stormont House Agreement in December 2014.”

“Let us be very clear – this is not a question of the ‘local parties failing to agree’. It is the UK Government that has vetoed progress by demanding the right to use ‘national security’ to cover up the unlawful activities of its agents. “It will use state power to give impunity to state agents. In so doing, it jettisons the interests of victims and the truth, continues its violation of international human rights standards and undermines the rule of law.”