The UK government’s Command Paper, which outlined a new method of ‘dealing with the past’ in Northern Ireland, indicates that South Africa’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) is a source of inspiration for implementing an amnesty for all Troubles-related offences and a new information recovery mechanism. The Command Paper also outlines plans for an oral history archive.
RSI’s position is that the government’s proposals draws too strongly from the South African transitional justice experience, without creating a holistic and context-sensitive approach.
The South African TRC had many successes, although many of these have been overstated and in fact many victims and their families are still yet to receive justice. In any case, the government’s proposal for a blanket amnesty and insertion of a carve-out for information relating to issues of national security, will limit the mooted mechanisms’ ability to achieve the limited levels of success seen in South Africa.
For more information, please see the attached briefing.
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