A group of international human rights experts who has found the British government operated a “systematic” practice of impunity to protect security forces from sanction during the Troubles, has called for the Legacy Act to be repealed.
Bitter Legacy: State Impunity in the Northern Ireland Conflict was compiled by an international expert panel convened by the Norwegian Centre for Human Rights at the request of the Committee on the Administration of Justice (CAJ) and the Pat Finucane Centre (PFC).
The expert panel, which included former police officers, spent a year assessing British government actions during the conflict.
The report has been published days before the controversial Legacy Act comes into force on May 1.
From that date Troubles-related civil cases and inquests that are not at their findings will be halted under the British government’s controversial Legacy Act.
Last month a High Court judge ruled that conditional immunity and plans to close down some civil actions are unlawful.
Legal challenges have been launched, including one by the Irish government at the European Court of Human Rights.
From Wednesday all legacy cases will be transferred to the Independent Commission for Reconciliation and Information Recovery (ICRIR).
Many victims and relatives of the dead are opposed to the ICRIR and believe it is designed to protect state actors from accountability.
The panel of experts has called on the Legacy Act to be repealed.
The report found that around 30,000 republicans and loyalists were jailed for paramilitary offences during the Troubles and concludes that there as a huge disparity in prosecutions, which ensured de facto impunity for security forces.
An area examined by the panel included the policy operated by the British between 1969-1973 known as ‘Tea and Sandwiches’ interviews with British soldiers accused of wrong doing during which RUC investigations were replaced by ‘presentational’ inquiries carried out by the Royal Military Police.
Details of numerous incidents where this practice took place have emerged in recent years.
Former Norwegian detective Kjell Erik led in-depth studies into 54 killings where state involvement was confirmed or suspected.
The panel found that the cases after 1974 and into the 1980s were generally characterised by omission or poor execution of key investigative steps where important lines of enquiry were not followed up.
Another area examined by the report focused on ill treatment by the security forces and includes cases of waterboarding, electric shock treatment, mock execution, drugging detainees, sexual abuse, degradation, and humiliation.
The panel found that typically only “perfunctory investigations” were launched, with only a small number of prosecutions.
On the issue of collusion the report dismisses claims that only ‘rogue’ members of the security forces were involved.
The experts found investigations into murder and serious paramilitary crimes were regularly obstructed by RUC Special Branch, which often took the form of withholding of intelligence, crucial evidence being ‘lost’ and the destruction of documents.
The report said: “Based on the evidence already presented by state-sponsored bodies, that collusion was often a deep-seated feature of the practice of state agencies throughout the entire conflict. It cannot be relegated to the actions of a few rotten apples.”
“It was not the case of a few bad apples. Failing to investigate these issues could not likely have been a case of temporary, isolated, lapses. Given the scope, duration, and nature of the collusive activities, it is hard to argue that political and law enforcement.”
A spokesman for the British government said: “The ICRIR will start operations from May 1, beginning its work of delivering better outcomes for families, victims and survivors.
“As found by the NI High Court, the ICRIR is operationally independent of government, and has all the necessary powers to conduct effective investigations.
“It also found the commission’s disclosure provisions are not only ECHR (European Convention on Human Rights) compliant, but capable of being an improvement on current mechanisms.”
Bitter Legacy: State Impunity in the Northern Ireland Conflict will be launched in west Belfast on Monday.
