The Northern Ireland ‘amnesty’: Hiding Britain’s ‘misdeeds’?
Al Jazeera
A proposed sweeping amnesty that would stop all investigations into crimes committed during the Troubles, including those by the British military, threatens to thwart the pursuit of truth and justice for victims’ families.
History shows that whenever protracted conflicts end, bereaved families are invariably left with questions. “Who shot my father?” “Why did my mother die?” “Why did it start?” and “Who was to blame?”
Communities emerging from bitter conflict also want and need to understand how to prevent it recurring. How can a divided community look to the future if it cannot agree at all about its past?
Those questions are vital to sustaining any deal, anywhere, that brings warring parties together to reach agreement. Resolving, or trying to resolve, the legacy of conflict is an integral part of peace-making.
