I’ve covered the Interim Victims Commissioner a couple of times in the past, and there has been some discussion on various aspects of the role. The Victims Unit announced last week that the consultation process to establish a permanent post of Victims Commissioner was beginning and would last until September 15th. This was never going to be an easy job, and having such a role raises many issues on the definition of victim in the first instance, the treatment of all who consider themselves to be victims, and the idea of only having a Victims Commissioner for those affected by the Troubles. There hasn’t been much enthusiasm to extend the role to cover ALL victims, to have a champion in society for people who feel they havent been able to get justice or adequate compensation as a result of a non-Troubles related crime. One day, we may need to accept that the Troubles have been essentially over for half a generation and we will need to move forward and out of our state of collective victimhood.
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