There’s a cruel irony in the fact that Northern Ireland is held up as a success story when many victims' families actually consider their treatment a failure.”Victims of the conflict in Northern Ireland are being ‘disgracefully let down’ by a flawed and fragmented approach to dealing with the past, Amnesty International said today (Thursday 12 September) as it published a new report.Northern Ireland: Time to Deal with the Past blames the failure to deliver truth and justice on a lack of political will from both the UK government and Northern Ireland’s political parties. Fifteen years on from the Belfast/Good Friday Agreement, and one week ahead of the start of major new talks, the 78-page report finds that victims and their families have been failed by successive attempts to investigate abuses. A failure to deliver a comprehensive approach to dealing with the past has contributed to the societal division that is still rife in Northern Ireland, Amnesty found.The report, launched today in Belfast, is published ahead of the start of all-party talks chaired by the former US envoy to Northern Ireland, Richard Haass, which are aimed at dealing with the past, and addressing other contentious issues such as parading and flags.Amnesty International Director for Europe and Central Asia John Dalhuisen said:“Victims and relatives have been disgracefully let down by inadequate attempts to get to the truth about what happened in Northern Ireland.“There’s a cruel irony in the fact that Northern Ireland is held up as a success story when many victims' families actually consider their treatment a failure.
↧
