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SEPTEMBER 2002
bloody sunday inquiry
moves to london
Following successful challenges by soldiers alleging that their
lives were at risk, the Bloody Sunday Inquiry has moved lock, stock and barrel
to London, where it will remain for some months.
Our observer Blinne Ní Ghrálaigh has moved with it, and her weekly reports
will be available on the website as usual.
Owing to logistical difficulties caused by the relocation, her reports
may get to our website a little more slowly.
Very grateful thanks to the Joseph Rowntree Charitable Trust for renewing
and enhancing their support for this project, which has gone on longer than
anyone imagined. The victims of
Bloody Sunday held a very successful press conference in London on 23rd
September to mark the move, at which they made a moving plea to soldiers who
were present on Bloody Sunday to tell the truth and allow them to put closure on
this tragedy. The BSI will be
sitting at Central Hall Westminster from Monday to Thursday most weeks.
Hearings are open to the public.
colin whorton
On 25th September I
travelled to Ballymena to see Colin Whorton.
He was charged with the murder of Adrian Carroll in 1983, but the judge
dismissed the case against him because he was put under undue pressure to
confess by the RUC. The case became
known as that of the UDR Four. Three
of the men who stood trial were acquitted on appeal and received compensation.
The fourth man, Neil Latimer, has had his case referred back to the Court
of Appeal by the Criminal Cases Review Commission.
Unlike soldiers Clegg, Fisher and Wright, all of whom were actually
convicted of murder (although Lee Clegg was later acquitted) but were taken back
into the army, Colin Whorton’s contract with the army was not renewed, despite
an exemplary service record. He is
still fighting to clear his name. British
Irish rights watch will be
producing an independent report on his case later this year.
safety in
maghaberry
Paul Mageean of the Committee on the Administration of Justice and I visited Stormont on 25th September to talk to John Kelly MLA and Dr Joe Hendron MLA about safety in Maghaberry prison. We continue to be concerned about threats against the lives of some republican prisoners and attacks on them.
fundamental
review of inquests
We have sent a
detailed submission to the team who are reviewing the inquest system in Northern
Ireland and in England & Wales. We
have argued that the current inquest system is completely inadequate for dealing
with contentious deaths, especially those involving members of the security
forces. Drawing on recent judgments
in the European Court of Human Rights, we have identified the elements that are
required for an effective investigation into such deaths.
A copy of our submission is available in request.
state department
report
On 12th September I met Patricia Hoffman of the
US Embassy here in London to brief her on human rights developments in Northern
Ireland for the 2002 Country report on the United Kingdom.
policing in
transition
On 26th September I
attended a seminar in Belfast on policing organised by the University of Ulster
in their series on justice in transition. This
month we responded to a consultation exercise by the Policing Board on its
policy screening for the purposes of promoting equality.
We were concerned that this exercise seemed to concentrate on the
administrative functions of the Board’s staff rather on the Board’s
activities. Reading
the consultation document, one would never realise that inequality in policing
in Northern Ireland has been a major issue or that the Board has been charged
with addressing that issue. Nor
does the consultation paper even hint at the fact that policing is in transition
from being a paramilitary (in the true sense of the word) police force tackling
terrorism to being an ordinary police service tackling crime, serving all
members of the community equally and reflecting the community it serves.
Listening to the learned discourse at the seminar, I was struck by the
width of the gap between Patten’s proposals and implementation on the ground.
Northern
Ireland human rights commission under scrutiny
This month I was interviewed as part of research being conducted by Queen’s University in Belfast into the Northern Ireland Human Rights Commission. Such research is timely in light of the recent, very regrettable, resignations of Christine Bell and Inez McCormack, who have said that the Commission is being starved of resources and does not make the most effective use of the resources it has. BIRW has long argued for a UK-wide human rights commission, with a sister commission in Ireland. The Northern Ireland commission is the first in the UK, and it has been undermined by attempts to politicise it and by the failure of the government to support it either verbally or financially. We wish the commission well, and hope that it will not be judged too harshly, given that Northern Ireland is a severe testing ground and hardly provides the most fertile soil for human rights to flourish in. Perhaps the most difficult hurdle facing the commission at the moment is that of drawing together a coherent draft Bill of Rights for Northern Ireland, following an extensive round of consultation. No doubt they have received many conflicting comments. We hope that they will not hesitate to produce a radical new draft that draws on the positive suggestions and constructive criticism they have received, in order to provide a precision tool for remedying the massive human rights deficit in Northern Ireland, for the benefit of all who live there.
WELCOME
to delphine
I am very pleased to welcome Delphine Roumaseille from France, who is volunteering with us. She is helping us to research the death of Daniel Hegarty, a sixteen year old youth who was killed during Operation Motorman in Derry in 1972.
Jane Winter,
Director,
30th September 2002.
For Peace Justice & Human Rights
