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NOVEMBER 2005
NORTHERN IRELAND OFFENCES BILL
It has been clear for some years that the price the IRA intended to exact for finally decommissioning all its weapons was some form of amnesty for any IRA prisoners who were on the run. They argued that, since almost all other paramilitary prisoners had benefited from the early release scheme set up under the Good Friday Agreement, no useful purpose would be served by forcing this small group of people, known at the OTRs, to serve a short prison sentence. BIRW took no position on the IRA’s demand, regarding it, like the early release scheme, as part of a political settlement, and thus falling outside our remit. However, when the Northern Ireland Offences Bill was published it became clear that public servants who have engaged in collusion and others who committed offences prior to 1998 but have not yet been charged would also escape any public trial or jail – something which was never part of the peace settlement and which was never approved by a referendum. We consider that members of the security forces (the police, the army and the intelligence services) and civil servants are public servants. They are paid from the public purse. They are given powers, such as they right to carry and use weapons, to tap telephones, or to remand people in custody, which are not permissible to ordinary members of the public. When they commit acts of collusion, they abuse those powers and they abuse our trust. Higher standards can be expected from public servants than those that can be hoped for from terrorists. Public servants can and must be held accountable for what they do in our name and on our behalf. International human rights law rightly disapproves of the granting of impunity to agents of the state who engage in collusion. A full copy of the briefing we have sent to the House of Commons is available on our website.
WAYS OF DEALING WITH NORTHERN IRELAND’S PAST
BIRW has submitted a response to the government’s comments on the Northern Ireland Affairs Committee’s inquiry into ‘Ways of Dealing with Northern Ireland’s Past: Interim Report – Victims and Survivors’. BIRW felt that the government’s response was somewhat weak and insubstantive. In particular, there seemed to be a limited commitment to concrete measures to address past human rights violations. We raised the issue of the controversial appointment of the Interim Victims Commissioner; an appointment we feared had been motivated by political considerations rather than the well-being of victims. We also highlighted the problems caused by the government’s refusal to fully acknowledge its role in the conflict, and the extent to which collusion has permeated Northern Irish society. The government emphasizes the need for peace and stability in Northern Ireland, before any process of truth recovery can begin. However, without a real and transparent commitment by the government to the concepts of justice and human rights; peace and stability will continue to be elusive. If the Northern Ireland Offences Bill becomes law, it will enshrine the very opposite of a truth process.
billy wright inquiry converted to inquiries act
Despite the opposition of Billy Wright’s family, his lawyers, and NGOs, the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, Peter Hain MP, has decided to rubber stamp the request by Lord MacLean, who chairs the inquiry, to convert it to and inquiry held under the Inquiries Act 2005 rather than under the Prison Act. Although the Secretary of State says he only wants to arrive at the truth about the murder in 1997 in the Maze Prison of LVF leader Billy Wright, in reality we can expect the public servants who were responsible for the alleged acts of collusion identified by Judge Cory in his report to seek anonymity, secret hearings, and even the suppression of evidence. We can also expect them to take full advantage of the Northern Ireland Offences Bill, if passed.
ARRESTS FOR THE MURDERS OF DAVID McILWAINE AND ANDREW ROBB
While we welcome the recent arrests of two alleged UVF members for the murders of teenagers David McIlwaine and Andrew Robb, we are concerned that it has taken over five years to bring anyone to justice for these brutal killings. We also remain concerned that senior UVF members who may have been police informers may yet escape justice. We have spelled out our concerns in an explicit letter to the Senior Investigating Officer who is in charge of the police investigation, which we will continue to monitor very closely.
extraordinary rendition
This euphemism masks the practice of kidnapping people suspected of terrorism and taking them to third countries where they can be tortured. America is mainly responsible for this dastardly practice, but the United Kingdom has apparently been allowing the USA to use its airspace, airports and airbases. BIRW, under its mandate of seeking the abolition of torture, and given that Aldergrove near Belfast has allegedly been used for these purposes, has made a submission to the parliamentary Joint Committee on Human Rights, in which we have said that, even if the prohibition against torture were not absolute, no civilised democracy could countenance it. First, it is a complete fallacy to think that the use of torture can ever be justified in the legitimate attempt to counter or prevent terrorism. Torture produces just one product: what the torturer wants and expects to hear. Evidence obtained under torture is inherently unreliable, and the subjection of victims to extraordinary rendition on the basis of “intelligence” obtained by torture is as abhorrent as extraordinary rendition itself. Secondly, the short- and long-term effects of torture brutalise not only its victims, but the perpetrators and by extension the society that permits it. Thirdly, higher standards can and must be expected from governments than those that can be hoped for from terrorists. Once a state employs torture against those it suspects of involvement in terrorism, the terrorists have won, because the state has abandoned the rule of law and is prepared to use violence to obtain its ends; in other words, the state had brought about the very aim the terrorists have set out to achieve, the terrorising of the population and the collapse of democracy and accountability. We have sent copies of our submission to the United Nations, the Prime Minister, and the US Congress.
barron report on seamus ludlow finally published
The Irish government has finally published the report by Mr Justice Barron into the murder in 1976 of Seamus Ludlow by loyalists, some of whom were serving soldiers, who came over the border from Northern Ireland. We have written to the Taioseach, Bertie Ahern TD, and other government ministers, calling for a full public inquiry into this unforgivable crime, rather than the secret Commission of Investigation imposed on the victims of the Dublin and Monaghan bombings, also investigated by Judge Barron. Seamus Ludlow’s family have had no opportunity to scrutinise the evidence seen by Judge Barron, and the public interest demands an answer to the question of why, as Judge Barron found, the Irish police failed to act when the RUC gave them the names of the alleged perpetrators.
patrick finucane
On 15th November I attended a meeting in Dublin between the family of murdered lawyer Patrick Finucane and the Irish Minister for Foreign Affairs, Dermot Ahern TD. The Finucane family have been explaining to a number of people their reasons for wanting no part of an Inquiries Act inquiry into his murder. BIRW has sent a detailed report to the UN, the US Special Envoy to Northern Ireland, Mitchell Reiss, and the Irish and South African governments concerning the UK’s failure to keep its promise, made as part of the Weston Park Agreement to hold a proper public inquiry if Judge Cory recommended one, as of course he did. As in Billy Wright’s case, if the Northern Ireland Offences Bill is passed, no-one who colluded in the murder of this innocent lawyer will ever be brought to justice, whatever type of inquiry is held.
the ever-vanishing extradition of “larry the chef”
We have sent a complaint to the Police Ombudsman on behalf of Laurence Zaitschek about the Police Service of Northern Ireland’s failure, more than three years after the mysterious “break-in” at Castlereagh police station, to provide the Director of Public Prosecutions with enough evidence to decide whether or not Laurence Zaitschek, who was a chef at Castlereagh until a short time before the events there, should face extradition. Laurence Zaitschek maintains that he is wholly innocent, but the fear of arrest should he return to the UK is preventing him from having access to his small son. It is high time this ridiculous situation was resolved.
independent commissionER bows out
On 2nd November 2005 our Researcher, Caroline Parkes, and I met Dr Bill Norris OBE, the Independent Commissioner for Detained Terrorist Suspects, whose term of office comes to an end next month. His functions will be replaced by Lay Visitors. BIRW has written to the Northern Ireland Office, commenting on the Lay Visitors Order and asking how they will monitor trends in detention practices once the Commissioner is gone.
john dignam
BIRW has prepared a report on the murder of John Dignam whose body was found on 1st July 1992. The bodies of two other men, Aidan Starrs and Gregory Burns, were found on the same day at separate locations. The IRA were responsible for all three murders. They claimed that the men were informers and that they had been involved in the murder of a woman called Margaret Perry, who was killed a year earlier. According to a confession extorted from John Dignam, he was an accessory after the fact, in that he helped Aidan Starrs to hide her body. BIRW is concerned that no-one has ever been brought to book for these three murders. Like other families, if the Northern Ireland Offences Bill is passed, the Dignams can expect no justice.
NEIL McCONVILLE
On 3rd November I travelled to Belfast to meet the family of Neil McConville, shot dead by the PSNI in April 2003 following a car chase. The police were acting on intelligence reports, but when the car was searched the only weapon found was a gun that was wrapped up in cloth and for which there was no ammunition. The Police Ombudsman called herself in to investigate the case, and recently briefed the family on her findings. The family have a lot of outstanding questions and will be seeking a further meeting with the Police Ombudsman.
PUBLIC LAW AND HUMAN RIGHTS
On 18.11.05 Caroline Parkes attended a one-day conference focussing on public law and human rights. The conference, which was free to charities, was hosted by Blackstone Chambers, with profits going to Liberty. The quality of the speakers was impressive. Of particular interest to BIRW was a lecture by Shaheed Fatima and John Howell QC on ‘Using international Law in Domestic Courts’ and the workshop session ‘Obtaining Compensation for Human Rights Violations’ run by Pushpinder Saini and Ivan Hare.
JOHN CRAWFORD
We are advising the family of John Crawford, who was murdered on 9th January 1974 in Belfast. Caroline Parkes went to Belfast at the end of November to meet with his family.
the gentle art of lobbying
On 12th November 2005 I taught a session at the Institute of Commonwealth Studies on lobbying to graduate students on the Understanding Human Rights course.
WELCOME TO ESTHER
Esther Lieu is one of the students on the ICS course mentioned above and is spending six months as an intern with BIRW, where she is helping us to update on deaths related to the conflict since the 1994 ceasefires (she says it’s better than photocopying!).
Jane Winter,
Director,
30th November 2005.
For Peace Justice & Human Rights
