Sir Hugh Orde in conversation with John Ware @RelsForJustice + Denis Bradley’s response highlighting need for 2 governments to re-engage

Panorama veteran reporter John Ware interviewed Sir Hugh Orde in the Balmoral Hotel this afternoon in a packed event organised by Relatives for Justice as part of Féile an Phobail. Audio in four parts. [MP3 MP3 MP3 MP3] listen to ‘1/3 Sir Hugh Orde in conversation with John Ware @relsforjustice @feilebelfast’ on Audioboo For 45 minutes Hugh Orde walked through the setup of the HET (never intended to be Article 2 compliant replace the state’s/police service’s responsibility to investigate). His …

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Pitch for a selective ‘use of immunity’ sets Sinn Fein at odds with victims groups

Declan Kearney’s blog over at the BelTel on the Secretary of State’s 7th March speech is worth highlighting for a number of reasons. One, it comes a full seven days after the Villiers speech. And two the argument begins with an odd reference to ‘narrative’: By setting out the primacy of a single narrative, and rejecting the use of immunity as one instrument to assist in dealing with the past, the British Government has come out against the Haass compromises. …

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Only amnesties here are de-facto and protect state forces and their agents.

Mark Thompson of Relatives For Justice has a lengthy piece on the OTR issue over at the Compromise after Conflict blog and takes the opportunity to highlight the degree of attention this is getting in the media compared to that given his own organisation. He concludes though: OTR letters are not amnesties but they are of legitimate concern to those affected by republicans much the same that the issues raised in this article are of equal concern to those affected …

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“the #HET did not act legally in examining state killings”

Inconsistencies and shortcomings in policies, systems and practices threaten the legitimacy of the Historical Enquiries Team’s work, and risk undermining the confidence of the families of those who died during ‘the troubles’ in its effectiveness and impartiality. So says the Inspector of Constabulary about the Historical Enquiries Team (HET) in a report issued today. Originally requested by the Chief Constable, the report looked at the work of the HET in cases with state involvement to see if it meets the requirements …

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Are some victims campaigns more acceptable than others?

Never one to pull his punches, in today’s Irish News Newton Emerson gets down to asking an important question of Relatives for Justice, the director of which Mark Thompson has written: The bill is a direct consequence of the failure to independently deal with the past in an inclusive and holistic way and as such should not be progressed in isolation to a wider process of inclusive truth recovery. Ideally this issue should be the opportunity to now convene meaningful …

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