The Five Demands

Amnesty International call over NI Troubles legacy (BBC News NI)

Amnesty International is to call for a single system to address the legacy of the Troubles as it gives evidence to an Irish government committee in Dublin.

The Oireachtas Joint Committee on the Implementation of the Good Friday Agreement is examining ways of “dealing with the past” in Northern Ireland.

Amnesty representatives will speak at Thursday’s hearing.

The charity will also present the findings of its recent report: Northern Ireland: Time to Deal with the Past.

Amnesty said it wanted to see independent inquiries held into some of the worst atrocities from the Troubles.

Oireachtas committee members will hear a call for political representatives in Dublin, Belfast and London to prioritise dealing with Northern Ireland’s past.

Amnesty’s Grainne Teggert said: “Amnesty has already presented this research paper to both politicians in Northern Ireland and at Westminster and what we now want to do is make sure we have a victims centred process to dealing with the past going forward.

“So we will be working with victims’ groups and individual families on that.

“Our report on dealing with the past in Northern Ireland has found that, for many families, they’ve been left wanting and indeed there’s been a piecemeal approach to dealing with the past.

“That is why as Amnesty we would recommend a new, overarching mechanism to deal with the past.”