THE 4th McCLUSKEY CIVIL RIGHTS SUMMER SCHOOL | SINN FÉIN MLA MITCHEL McLAUGHLIN MLA

Finding the truth in conflict

The South African Truth and Reconciliation Commission was hailed as a great success

THE establishment of an Independent International Truth Commission - independent of the state, combatant groups, political parties and other vested interests - is the best way of dealing with what happened during the conflict, the Sinn Féin spokesperson on Victims, Mitchel McLaughlin MLA, told the McCluskey Civil Rights Summer School.
As a result of independent investigation, such a commission should be enabled to:-
•    Deliver the truth to bereaved families;
•    Encompass all the victims and survivors;
•    Analyse the policies and practices that sustained and fuelled the conflict;
•    Address the responsibility of all the protagonists.
“Grief and pain recognise no political or geographical boundaries and affects all who were part of the armed conflict and many non-combatants,” he said.
Mitchel was addressing the 4th McCluskey Civil Rights Summer School in Carlingford, County Louth, on September 24th.
Over the past four decades, British Government legislation, institutions, agencies and personnel have fashioned structures, practices and procedures to ensure that the truth about its activities during the conflict is withheld from public scrutiny, he said.
“So far, the approach of the British Government has been to challenge, frustrate and drive up the cost of inquiries so as to make them politically unacceptable.”
He acknowledged that truth recovery can be a very complex and difficult process. It entails those involved “reliving and revisiting the terror and trauma of the original incident which resulted in the death of a loved one or serious injury and pain for survivors”. But it can work, he said.
“The Saville Inquiry heard evidence from a significant number of witnesses. Some of that testimony was vivid and explicit despite the passage of three decades. An interesting dynamic was the divergence in the detail of the testimonies of survivors of the Bloody Sunday massacre. Even though they were at the time standing within yards of each and were describing the same incident.”
Mitchel McLaughlin said this is, apparently, a commonplace dynamic, particularly when experiencing events of high drama and danger.
Nevertheless, inquiry chairperson Lord Saville and his expert colleagues were able to assemble the ‘Mosaic of Truth’ and his findings were accepted by the British Government as the definitive account which demolished and exposed the fraud of the infamous Widgery Tribunal, held in the aftermath of the massacre and dubbed the ‘Widgery Whitewash’ for its exoneration of the British Army and its blaming of the victims.
He said:
“Sinn Féin is very mindful of the difficulties involved in truth recovery, particularly for victims and their families, but we believe that as a post-conflict society there is a requirement that all of us address the tragic human consequences of the past. However, Sinn Féin rejects any attempt to create a hierarchy of victims and survivors. All must be treated on the basis of equality.
“Sinn Féin would argue that if you only seek evidence from some of the protagonist groups, or if you only ask some of the questions, then you will only establish some of the truth.”
In Sinn Féin’s opinion, he said, the establishment of an Independent International Truth Commission is the best way of taking this issue forward.
“This would be the responsibility of the British and Irish Governments. However the critical issues of independence and credibility require that there should be maximum involvement from the United Nations or a similar international organisation in the process.”
“This is the most effective way to harvest all of the fragments of recoverable truth and assemble the ‘Mosaic of Truth’ for everyone in our community.”