Denying the Past is Not the Same as Drawing a Line Under It
Ending Troubles-related prosecutions is not the same as reconciliation.
Last Wednesday the Northern Ireland Secretary Brandon Lewis stood up in Parliament and announced that he planned to place a moratorium on all future prosecutions of crimes related to The Troubles. He argued that the policy idea was a “painful recognition of the reality of where we are [in terms of dealing with the past]” but in reality this is a political decision that seeks to deliberately avoid dealing with the past.
As an alternative it was suggested that a new, independent body would work to establish the truth when it comes to past killings and try to construct an oral history of the conflict. The problem is that for those living in Northern Ireland this isn’t history. Many of the perpetrators are still alive and have yet to face justice and that makes it hard to put past crimes behind them and move on with their lives. Despite the Good Friday Agreement there is still a great deal of tension in the six counties that threatens to erupt on a regular basis.
Of course politics is playing a big role here as the government wishes to position itself as defending former British service people from prosecution. Outside of the UK this has not played as well. Senior members of the Irish government have set out their opposition to the move and it is unlikely that it will sit well with a Biden administration in the U.S. that is already sceptical of Boris Johnson’s commitment to peace.
They would be right to be sceptical. This move is all about bolstering domestic political capital at the expense of sustained peace in Northern Ireland. In order for any reconciliation programme to be effective, victims have to feel that their voices are being heard. If that is not happening then as Sandra Peake, head of the Wave Trauma Centre, the largest cross-community victims and survivors support group in Northern Ireland, notes, the British government is “telling those who carried out the most horrendous crimes that what they did no longer matters”.
When sectarian violence breaks out again and the government wonders who to blame they should just take a long look in the mirror.
This week’s episode of the podcast is also about diplomatic trouble but deals with what happens when you sue a country and need to serve notice. Normally notice would be served via the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office but here the Supreme Court was asked if that could be avoided in certain circumstances.
Episode link: http://uklawweekly.com/2021-uksc-22/
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