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The UK government’s proposed legislation for dealing with the legacy of the Troubles is “unworkable” and in breach of international human rights law and the Belfast Agreement, according to a report published on Tuesday.
The study, by the model bill team at Queen’s University, Belfast (QUB)’s School of Law and Belfast-based human rights NGO the Committee on the Administration of Justice (CAJ), also concluded it would “not deliver for victims and survivors, many of whom have waited for decades for truth and justice.”
The Northern Ireland Troubles (Legacy and Reconciliation) Bill was introduced by the Northern Secretary, Brandon Lewis, last week, and will receive its second reading in parliament on Tuesday.
Relatives of those killed during the Troubles and groups which support them are due to hold protests in Belfast, Derry and Westminster on Tuesday, and will deliver a letter of opposition to 10 Downing Street.
The Northern Ireland Troubles (Legacy and Reconciliation) Bill will create a new truth recovery body - the Independent Commission for Reconciliation and Information Recovery (ICRIR) - which will offer immunity from prosecution to perpetrators who co-operate with its inquiries.
It will take over responsibility for all Troubles inquiries and other avenues of criminal and civil investigation and inquests will be closed down.
The plans have been widely condemned, including by the North’s five main political parties, victims and human rights groups, the Irish government and other parties in Ireland and in Britain. It is supported by veterans’ groups.
The UK government has said the legislation will provide an “effective information recovery process, underpinned by robust and independent investigations, to provide answers for families, deliver on commitments to those who served in Northern Ireland, and help society to look forward” and in a manner which will ensure legacy issues are “addressed comprehensively and fairly” and which “complies fully with international human rights obligations.”
In their report, the model bill team concluded that the proposed truth recovery body would not have the powers to conduct effective investigations and would be in breach of the UK’s international and domestic human rights obligations.
The bill’s provisions on amnesty were “unlikely” to comply with the UK’s requirements under the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR), the report said.
The team also considered the bill was in breach of the provisions of the Belfast Agreement in relation to the incorporation of the ECHR and the devolution settlement, as it would “directly limit the ability of people in Northern Ireland to challenge alleged breaches of the ECHR in either the Northern Ireland coronial courts or the Northern Ireland civil courts” and raised concerns over the “significant levels” of direct UK government control over the proposed legacy mechanisms.
The report also questioned whether the reason for the Bill’s introduction at this stage was that “existing mechanisms are working too well in exposing past human rights abuses.”
The “significantly expanded efforts to privilege work on oral history, memorialisation and academic research on the conflict” were, the report’s authors said, “designed to provide legal and political cover” for the UK government agenda behind the bill and “if enacted, such proposals could do untold damage to the credibility of such work as a smokescreen for impunity.”