Panel finds British Government acted with 'impunity' during Northern Ireland conflict

The British government protected security forces from sanction during the conflict in Northern Ireland and risks continuing its act of impunity through the introduction of new laws, according to a panel of international human rights experts.

The panel are calling for the Legacy Act, a conditional amnesty to those accused of killings during the conflict, to be repealed amid fears it will deny access to justice.

A new report, called Bitter Legacy: State Impunity in the Northern Ireland Conflict, outlines a number of findings made by the panel following a year-long study into British government actions throughout the conflict.

The University of Essex’s Dr Aoife Duffy, who was part of the panel, said: “We concluded that impunity – the impossibility of holding perpetrators to account – was widespread, systematic, and systemic.

“Furthermore, legislation passed by the UK government, the Northern Ireland Troubles (Legacy and Reconciliation) Act 2023 contributes to impunity, breaches the UK’s human rights obligations, and should be repealed.”

The experts say failure to repeal the Act would not only deprive victims’ families of proper legal redress, but also severely damage Britain’s worldwide reputation.

As one of the first authoritative studies of state impunity, the report comes as the controversial Legacy Act becomes law on 1 May and effectively bans victims’ families from future legal challenges, and closes down all existing legacy mechanisms.

The panel, which was convened by the Norwegian Centre for Human Rights and included two former senior police officers, investigated allegations that the state not only engaged in collusion but also blocked proper police investigations into conflict related killings to protect security force members and agents implicated in crime.

They found just a handful of security force members were imprisoned for their involvement in killings and torture.

This was in stark contrast to the 30,000 loyalist and republicans who were jailed for paramilitary offences during the conflict.

A huge disparity in prosecutions ensured de facto impunity for security forces involved in killings, torture, and ill-treatment, the panel have concluded.