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1 August 2017 Edition

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British have not met obligations – Relatives for Justice

‘National security’ veto has torpedoed Stormont House agreements

RELATIVES FOR JUSTICE (RFJ) has accused British Secretary of State James Brokenshire and his government of not meeting their obligations to victims and survivors of the conflict.

“Rather than concentrating on the full implementation of the Stormont House Agreement, the British Government has frustrated all processes to deal with the past,” RFJ said.

“They have stood by while the inquest courts and Police Ombudsman’s Office have been deliberately starved of necessary resources despite full clear professional plans of remedy for families that have the full support of the most senior legal figure in the north, the Lord Chief Justice, the UN and EU Human Rights Commissioner.”

And, RFJ adds, “in the most sinister of fashions” the British Government has insisted on a ‘national security’ veto which has torpedoed the political agreements reached in the form of the Stormont House Agreement legacy proposals.

“Recently, the British Government has announced that they wish to unilaterally consult on legacy proposals, which do not have political agreement,” RFJ said.

The relatives’ organisation said that many view this as a cynical exercise in continuing state impunity, with the British state not wishing to be investigated or held to account for its role in state killings or collusion.

“The British Government has clear legal obligations to victims and survivors of the conflict under the European Convention of Human Rights, it is long since past time they stood aside and allowed for independent and robust mechanisms that can deliver to all victims to be put in place.”

The British state, Relatives for Justice declared, “is not impartial”.

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