A human rights group has called for urgent reform of a controversial British government legacy body set up to investigate the past.
The Independent Commission for Reconciliation and Information Recovery (ICRIR) was established by the former Conservative government and became operational in May.
The call is made in a new report by the Committee for the Administration of Justice (CAJ) which is being published on Thursday at Queen’s University Belfast.
It follows discussions with several campaign groups including Pat Finucane Centre, Amnesty NI, Relatives for Justice and Rights and Security International.
Entitled “What could substantive root and branch reform of the ICRIR look like? and would it be enough?” the document comes amid growing criticism of the ICRIR’s performance and highlights suggestions for tackling what the authors call “deep flaws in the current system”.
The Northern Ireland Troubles (Legacy and Reconciliation) Act 2023, which ended all inquests and civil cases, as well as introducing conditional immunity.
Many victims, and relatives of those who died during the Troubles, are strongly opposed to the ICRIR, believing it to be part of British government attempts to protect state participants from accountability.
Last month the Court of Appeal in Belfast found that a British government veto over sensitive material that can be disclosed by the commission to relatives of the dead is not compatible with human rights laws.
The new Labour Government has said it intends to repeal and replace the act, although the ICRIR will be retained.
The chief commissioner of the legacy body is former Lord Chief Justice Sir Declan Morgan, while ex-senior police officer Peter Sheridan heads its investigations.
Among the main recommendations made are that “a process of internationalisation of a reformed legacy body to build impartiality, confidence and draw on the numerous persons with international experience in transitional justice”.
The report authors have also suggested that the ICRIR’s “commissioners running a reformed legacy body should all be re-recruited following an independent and international process, along with refreshing senior staff, to build confidence in the institution and augment its skills set and independence”.
CAJ director Daniel Holder said the report shows “the agenda behind the Legacy Act and ICRIR, was to shut down proper legacy investigations and replace them with more limited reviews.”
He added: “Tinkering won’t work, we need a root and branch reform process to produce a distinct institution unrecognisable to the ICRIR.”
Separately the CAJ and Amnesty International addressed members of The Executive Office at Stormont on Wednesday.
Other stakeholder groups, including the Pat Finucane Centre, Wave, South East Fermanagh Foundation, also appeared.
Earlier this year the committee was also addressed by Sir Declan Morgan, who is now to be invited back.
The ICRIR said: “We were not invited to be involved in the preparation of this report by the Committee for the Administration of Justice and look forward to reviewing it when published.
“While it would be inappropriate of us to comment on the document before then, it is important to point out that all our staff have been recruited in compliance with fair employment legislation and policy, through open competition based on merit and in line with statutory equality duties.”
