Dealing with the past in Northern Ireland: Resources

This is an ever-growing list of resources I have compiled on dealing with the past in Northern Ireland.  First published 29 June 2012. My last update, following the release of the most recent government policy consultation, was reposted and updated on 18 November 2025.

Key Policy Documents & Resources

Sequential list of key policy documents & resources

• 
  The Northern Ireland Troubles Bill 2024-26 was introduced in the House of Commons on 14 October 2025. The second reading for the bill took place on 18 November 2025. More [External]
• CAJ Briefing Document on UK-Ireland Joint Framework. Download [External]
• The Legacy of the Troubles: A Joint Framework, 19 September 2025. Download [External]
• On 21 January 2026, MPs voted 373 to 106 to remove the contentious conditional immunity clause from the Northern Ireland Troubles (Legacy and Reconciliation) Act 2023, following a court ruling that the immunity provisions violated human rights and the Windsor Framework.
• The Model Bill Team’s Response to the NIO Proposals, May 2022. Download [External]
• In May 2022, the UK government put forward the Northern Ireland Troubles (Legacy and Reconciliation) Bill. Download [External]
• The Model Bill Team’s Response to the NIO Proposals, September 2021. Download
• Addressing the Legacy of Northern Ireland’s Past, July 2021, Command Paper CP 498. Download
• Veterans of the Northern Ireland Troubles protected (newspaper article on British Government "proposals" as no official sources exist at this point) (6 May 2021). Read [External]
• Addressing the Legacy of Northern Ireland's past Northern Ireland Affairs Committee consultation (Interim Report) and Evidence (26 October 2020). Download [External]
• Addressing the Legacy of Northern Ireland's past Northern Ireland Affairs Committee consultation: The UK Government's New Proposals (open to 1 June 2020). Download [External]
  
• Ministerial Statement: Addressing Northern Ireland Legacy Issues: Written statement - HCWS168 (18 March 2020). Download [External]
  
• Analysis of the Stormont House Agreement (SHA) consultation responses (July 2019). Download [External]
  
• Consultation: Addressing the Legacy of Northern Ireland's Past (closed 10 September 2018). Download
• Draft Northern Ireland (Stormont House Agreement) Bill (10 March 2016). Download [External]
• Healing Through Remembering: Guide to the Stormont House Agreement (SHA) (2016). Download [External]
• Report of the Special Rapporteur on the promotion of truth, justice, reparation and guarantees of non-recurrence on his mission to Northern Ireland: Comments by the State (16 Nov 2016). Download
• Report of the Special Rapporteur on the promotion of truth, justice, reparation and guarantees of non-recurrence, on his mission to the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland (March 2016). Download
• 'Model Bill Team' based at Queen's University Belfast and Committee on the Administration of Justice. Stormont House Agreement – Model Implementation Bill and Explanatory Notes (17 September 2015). Download [External]
• Stormont House Agreement (23 December 2014). Download
• Proposed Agreement (31 December 2013). An agreement among the parties of the Northern Ireland Executive on Parades, Select Commemorations, and Related Protests; Flags and Emblems; and Contending with the Past (also known as Haas O'Sullivan Proposals). Download [External]
• House of Commons Northern Ireland Affairs Committee (December 2009). The Report of the Consultative Group on the Past in Northern Ireland. Response. Download [External]
• Report of the Consultative Group of the Past (January 2009). Download [External]
  
• House of Commons. Northern Ireland Affairs Committee. (2008). Session 2007-08, evidence from Brandon Hamber, Cate Turner, Alan McBride and Sandra Peake. Download
• Healing Through Remembering (2006). Making Peace with the Past: Options for truth recovery regarding the conflict in and about Northern Ireland. Download
  
• House of Commons. Northern Ireland Affairs Committee (October 2005). Ways of Dealing with Northern Ireland's Past: Government Response to the Committee's Tenth Report of Session 2004-05. Download
• House of Commons Northern Ireland Affairs Committee  Ways of Dealing with Northern Ireland's Past: Interim Report - Victims and Survivors  Tenth Report of Session 2004–05. Download
  
• Healing Through Remembering Consultation on Dealing with the Past (2002). Download
  
• "We Will Remember Them": Report of the Victims Commissioner (April 1998). Download [External]
  

Articles by Brandon Hamber and Colleagues

• Hamber, B. (2021, 15 July). Amnesty a line in the sand? It’s not even close. Belfast Telegraph.
• Hamber, B. (2020, 12 December). Moment of Truth…Victims of Northern Ireland’s Troubled Past Can’t Wait Forever. Belfast Telegraph.
• O'Neill, S. & Hamber, B. (2020). Response on Mental Health to Dealing with the Past Consultation. Northern Ireland Affairs Committee Consultation on "Addressing the Legacy of Northern Ireland's past: The UK Government's New Proposals". INCORE, University of Ulster. Submitted online 31 May 2020.
• O'Neill, S. & Hamber, B. (2018). The need for a victim and survivor centred, trauma-informed approach: A Response to the Addressing the Legacy of Northern Ireland's Past Consultation. INCORE, University of Ulster. Submitted online 5 October 2018.
• Hamber, B. and Kelly, G. (2018). Response on Reconciliation to the Consultation Paper: Addressing the Legacy of Northern Ireland's Past. INCORE, University of Ulster. Submitted online 5 October 2018. 
• Hamber, B., & Kelly, G. (2018). Reconciliation: A Northern Ireland Case Study. In Kofi Annan Foundation and Interpeace (Eds), Challenging the Conventional: Can Post-Violence Reconciliation Succeed? (pp. 98-148). New York/Geneva: Kofi Annan Foundation & Interpeace.
• Brandon Hamber, 2008, Submission to the Consultative Group on the Past in Northern Ireland. (Submission, January). Belfast, Northern Ireland.
• Brandon Hamber, 2006, Getting to the Truth Through Talking, Daily Ireland, 14 March 2006.
• Brandon Hamber, 2004, Time to stop permissible lies about the past, Polity, 26 November.
• Brandon Hamber, 2004, Submission to the Northern Ireland Affairs Committee. Reconciliation: Ways of dealing with Northern Ireland's Past (Submission, December). London: Northern Ireland Affairs Committee.
• Brandon Hamber, 2003, A Truth Commission for Northern Ireland, Blog Post, 11 June 2003
• Hamber, B. (2002). Rights and Reasons: Challenges for Truth Recovery in South Africa and Northern Ireland. [Journal Article]. Fordham International Law Journal, 26(4), 1074-1094.
• Hamber, B. (Ed.). (1998). Past Imperfect: Dealing with the Past in Northern Ireland and Societies in Transition. Derry/Londonderry: University of Ulster, INCORE.

Websites

• Healing Through Remembering
• Transitional Justice Institute
• CAIN
• CAIN (Section on Victims and Commemoration)
• Bloody Sunday Inquiry
• Commission for Victims and Survivors
  
• Committee for the Administration of Justice
• Consultative Group on the Past
• Historical Inquiries Team
• Pat Finucane Centre

Publications

List of key academic papers on Northern Ireland, dealing with the past and transitional justice, review the annotated list (56 references).

Northern Ireland Troubles (Legacy and Reconciliation) BillNorthern Ireland Troubles (Legacy and Reconciliation) BillNorthern Ireland Troubles (Legacy and Reconciliation) BillDownloadDownloadDownload More

The legacy of Northern Ireland’s past: Mental Health

Ulster University professors Siobhan O’Neill, left, and Brandon Hamber argue that understanding the effect of the Troubles related trauma, including transgenerational trauma, is vital for fostering peace building in Northern Ireland.

The conflict was a significant and distinctive stressor in the life of the community in Northern Ireland for over 40 years. The world mental health survey found that whilst around 71.5 percent of the population have minimal levels of mental illness, the mental health difficulties of at least half of the remaining 28.5 percent (approx. 213,000 adults) appear to be directly related to the Troubles (Bolton, 2017; McLafferty et al., 2016; O’Neill et al., 2015). The same study showed that 39 percent of the population experienced a traumatic event that was related to the Troubles. Such events included bombings, shootings, and witnessing killings and mutilations. The research demonstrated the depth and scale of the mental health needs of the Northern Ireland population, however progress on meeting those needs and providing the evidence-based treatments for complex trauma-related illnesses has been slow.

In the meantime, the consequences are manifest in the form of social unrest and high rates of suicide (O’Neill et al., 2014) and prescribed medication (Benson et al., 2018). Mental illness stifles healing and empathy. Psychological therapies can help individuals make meaning from their experiences, which not only reduces their suffering, but also allows them to place the experience in context, to foster recovery. Such processes at both a personal, and community level can promote peace-building, and potentially create the environment for peace.

For victims and survivors of trauma, the issues of truth, justice, accepting responsibility, compensation and official acknowledgement are also part of this “meaning making” and are interwoven with healing (Hamber, 2009). In fact, healing, often promoted by addressing wider victim issues such as truth and justice, in such circumstances may provide the conditions for post-traumatic growth (Joseph, 2015).The opposite is also true, that failing to address the wider needs of survivors (such as a desire for justice or truth) can have negative psychological consequences into the long term (Hamber, 2009).

We made these points in response to the consultation on the proposed legacy institutions (O’Neill and Hamber, 2018, see our full response), and also noted that the institutions will have a profound impact on the mental health of the individuals who engage with them, those who for whatever reason choose not to, and those with existing trauma-related conditions who either participate, or hear about them from the media and other sources. It is vital that the mental health of those affected is protected through this process.

The consultation – ‘Addressing the legacy of Northern Ireland’s past’ – includes proposals to implement the four new legacy institutions set out in the 2014 Stormont House Agreement (SHA) and the Government’s manifesto for Northern Ireland 2017. A key element of the Stormont House Agreement is that all of these bodies will be under statutory obligations to act in ways that are balanced, proportionate, transparent, fair and equitable.

Our six key recommendations in relation to the legacy institutions:

1. The institutions should adopt a victim and survivor-centred perspective. The process should be scrutinised from the perspective of the victim, and their journey through engagement with one or more of the structures.
2. Support for victims through the process should be standardised and offered on an equal basis to all survivors across the legacy institutions.
3. A process of demand profiling and impact assessment should be undertaken prior to the commencement of the work of the institutions.
4. The institutions should adopt a trauma-informed approach that: Realises the impact of trauma and understands potential paths for recovery; Recognises the signs and symptoms of trauma, responds by integrating knowledge about trauma into policies, procedures, and practices; and seeks to actively resist re-traumatisation. (SAMSHA, 2018). This particularly means that the legacy structures and processes should screen people for trauma-related conditions and facilitate them in receiving treatment.
5. We recommend that a Mental Health Advisory Group with an expert chair, is convened to oversee and monitor the implementation of all four institutions.
6. We need to protect the mental wellbeing of those who work within the institutions particularly those who witness the testimonies of the victims and survivors and those tasked with delivering justice and establishing a level of need.

Citing this Article

O’Neill, Siobhan and Hamber, Brandon (2019). Addressing the legacy of Northern Ireland’s past. The View Digital, Issue 51, pp.30-31.

Source

This article was published by The View Digital (Issue 51, 2019), to download a Pdf of the article as it appeared, click here. To download the full edition of The View Digital which features "An in-depth look at victims, survivors and legacy issues from the Troubles", click here.

Learn more about The View Digital, click here.

References

Benson, T., Corry, C., O’Neill, S., Murphy, S., Bunting, B. (2018). Use of prescription medication by individuals who died by suicide in Northern Ireland. Arch Suicide Res, 22, 1, 139-152. Download. 

Bolton, D. (2017). Conflict, peace and mental health: Addressing the consequences of conflict and trauma in Northern Ireland. Manchester: Manchester University Press.

Hamber, B. (2009). Transforming Societies After Political Violence: Truth, Reconciliation and Mental Health. New York: Springer.

Joseph, S. (2015). A person-centred perspective on working with people who have experienced psychological trauma and helping them move forward toward post-traumatic growth. Person-Centered and Experiential Psychotherapies, 14(3), 178-190.

McLafferty, M., Armour, C., O'Neill, S., Murphy, S., Ferry, F., Bunting B. (2016). Suicidality and profiles of childhood adversities, conflict related trauma and psychopathology in the Northern Ireland population. J Affect Disord, 200, 97-102. Download.

O'Neill, S., Ferry, F., Murphy, S.D., et al. (2014). Patterns of suicidal ideation and behaviour in Northern Ireland and associations with conflict-related trauma. PLOSOne, download.

O’Neill, S., Armour, C., Bolton, B. et al., (2015). Towards a Better Future: The Transgenerational Impact of the Troubles on Mental Health. Belfast, CVSNI. Retrieved from here.

O’Neill, S. and Hamber, B. (2018). Consultation Response: Addressing the Legacy of Northern Ireland's Past. The need for a victim and survivor centred, trauma-informed approach. Retrieved from here, 25th Feb 2019.

SAMHSA (2018). Trauma-Informed Approach and Trauma-Specific Interventions. Download.

Survivor centred, trauma-informed approach

The government launched a consultation on "Addressing the Legacy of Northern Ireland's Past" earlier in 2018 with a closing date of October 2018.

As part of the responses to the consultation Professor Siobhan O'Neill and myself made a submission on "The need for a victim and survivor centred, trauma-informed approach". To read the submission, download here.

Image from CVSNI public information graphics

Hierarchies of Victimhood: Public Talk New York

Please join the Transitional Justice Network for a conversation with Prof. Brandon Hamber, Director of the International Conflict Research Institute, about policy regarding victims of political violence.

The goal of the Transitional Justice Network is to promote global discourse among students, scholars, and professionals on issues of transitional justice. A place for discussion, where students can learn about issue in the field, scholars can link with other scholars working in similar areas, and professionals can keep up to date with trending thoughts and philosophies. See http://www.transitional-justice.org

Brandon Hamber is Director of the International Conflict Research Institute (INCORE), an associate site of the United Nations University based at the University of Ulster. He has written extensively on the South African Truth and Reconciliation Commission, the psychological implications of political violence, and the process of transition and reconciliation in South Africa, Northern Ireland, and abroad.

Ruti Teitel is the Ernst C. Stiefel Professor of Comparative Law, New York Law School.

Seminar: Hierarchies of Victimhood

Hierarchies of Victimhood:
The challenge of policy interventions aimed at alleviating the suffering of
victims of political violence

September 6, 2013 - 13:00 - 14:30

Location: Emthonjeni Centre, Seminar Room 19, East Campus, Wits University

Speaker(s): Professor Brandon Hamber

Abstract

Using experience and knowledge gained from engagement and peacebuilding work with victims and survivors of political violence in Northern Ireland, as well as work in other contexts such as South Africa and the Basque Country, the paper will delve into the complex interplay between individual psychological processes and macro policy interventions aimed at assisting victims. The paper will highlight how suffering is politically framed and its relationship to national identity politics, and specifically how this can play itself out in terms of the politics surrounding victimhood and the resultant “competition” over suffering. The paper will highlight the limits of narrow mental health and medical orientated approaches to dealing with the needs of victims of political violence, and particularly how suffering can be “bureaucratised” in an attempt to deal with underlying politics of violence. As a case example specific attention will be given to the development of services to victims of the conflict in Northern Ireland.

Biography

Professor Brandon Hamber is Director of INCORE, an associate site of the United Nations University based at the University of Ulster. He is also a Mellon Distinguished Visiting Scholar in the School of Human and Community Development at the University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg, South Africa. Prior to moving to Northern Ireland, he co-ordinated the Transition and Reconciliation Unit at the Centre for the Study of Violence and Reconciliation in Johannesburg. He trained in South Africa as a Clinical Psychologist at the University of the Witwatersrand. He has participated in peace initiatives, research projects and consultancies in Liberia, Mozambique, Bosnia, Northern Ireland, the Basque Country and Sierra Leone, among others. He has also been a Board member of the Khulumani Victim Support Group in South Africa. He has written extensively on transitional justice and the psychological implications of political violence. He has published some 40 book chapters and scientific journal articles, and is the author of Transforming Societies after Political Violence: Truth, Reconciliation, and Mental Health published by Springer in 2009, and later in 2011 in Spanish by Edicions Bellaterra.

Hosted by the African Centre for Migration and Society

Northern Ireland Memorials iPhone App

Very excited today about the launch of the INCORE and CAIN Memorials App.

The App acts as a guide to the hundreds of Troubles memorials found in public spaces in Northern Ireland.

As is noted on CAIN: "The new Memorials App provides an interactive guide to the physical memorials allowing users to view information and photographs about each plaque, memorial stone, memorial enclosure or garden, and/or figurative statue, that has been erected in a public space during the conflict. Users can search on-line databases for memorials of interest. Alternatively they can use the geo-locating facility of the iPhone to find memorials that are close to their location. Users can also find basic information on those people commemorated by the memorial".

To find out more and download the App, click here.

The Northern Ireland Troubles in Britain

Today I gave a  keynote address at the "The Northern Ireland Troubles in Britain: Impacts, Engagements, Legacies and Memories" Conference, 11–13 July 2012. The conference was an inter-disciplinary conference hosted by the Centre for Research in Memory Narrative and Histories at the University of Brighton. The conference sought to explore the impacts and lasting effects of the Northern Ireland ‘Troubles’ in Britain and responses to the conflict from Britain. More details on the conference are here.

My paper will be entitled 'Symptomatic treatment: The challenge of policy and practice interventions aimed at assisting victims of the confict in and about Northern Ireland'.

I am still finalising my paper but here are some tweets from the day to give you a little flavour.

@JoDoverWork 9:14am Preparing to chair a session at the Brighton conference with @BrandonHamber about policy & practice for assisting victims of the 'Troubles'

@BrandonHamber 11:39am My paper at Brighton conference entitled "Symptomatic Treatment" argues we are medicalising how we look at victims of the conflict

@BrandonHamber 11:41am We also need link in truth, justice and reparation, and describe the context now and then, to deal with the full range of needs

@BrandonHamber 11:42am What victim voices are we silencing or rewarding in peace process Northern Ireland, is there social space for people to still be angry?

@BrandonHamber 11:44am Victim healing comes not only in the therapy room but how they negotiate victims place in society and acknowledge what has happened

@BrandonHamber 11:45am There is an onus on political leadership to create a framework to talk about the past in Britain and Northern Ireland

@BrandonHamber 12:00pm Good response to my talk. I'm working on the final paper. But many of the ideas in my book "Transforming Societies" ow.ly/1OgxPr

Getting to the Truth Through Talking

Conflict-transformation expert Dr Brandon Hamber asks what messages programmes like Facing the Truth convey and what else might need to be done to deal with the past

The recent BBC series Facing the Truth, which brought victims of political violence face to face with perpetrators, has got people talking.The dialogues, facilitated by Archbishop Desmond Tutu, are a stark reminder of the suffering caused by the conflict in and about Northern Ireland. It is sobering to think that the cases featured are a fragment of the thousands of stories that need to be told.

The programmes were a bold move and may have helped individual victims. They provide some hope for the future, along with the work of organisations that have fostered similar dialogues over the years, albeit behind closed doors. But we also have to ask what other messages such programmes convey and what else might need to be done to reckon with the past.

Although the programmes are not a truth commission but a dialogue, the central idea leans heavily on the South African experience. It draws on the idea of publicly airing grievances as a way of addressing the past, as championed by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission. There are profound differences, however. The South African commission’s primary focus was on outlining the causes, nature and extent of the conflict through victim and perpetrator testimony. This testimony took place in separate victim and amnesty or perpetrator hearings. Although most amnesty hearings took place publicly, only approximately 2,000 of the 21,000 victims who gave statements to the commission gave testimony in public.

When perpetrators applied for amnesty in exchange for speaking the truth, victims or their lawyers could question perpetrators as to the veracity of their statements but this was not billed as a meeting or as necessarily reconciliatory. The South African commission was not primarily about victims meeting perpetrators and nowhere in its legal mandate does it say it was.

The BBC programmes, presented by veteran Irish reporter Fergal Keane, have now created this myth. Victim-offender meetings did happen on occasion as a result but largely outside the remit of the commission. In addition, such meetings and the commission itself were part of a more extensive political process. This leaves one wondering: Is Northern Ireland trying to walk before it can crawl or are high-profile encounters needed to move the process forward?

Photo by Chris Zhang on Unsplash

Given the stalled peace process, the programmes might get people to re-engage with resolving the conflict. The courage shown by participants can demonstrate what is possible despite the dense fog of political dilly-dallying. However, focusing on the victims can also inadvertently suggest that it is the responsibility of victims, rather than wider society, to reconcile as the first step to change, thus burdening victims with another liability. Some victims could feel pressured to forgive, or perpetrators compelled into expressing remorse they don’t really feel, especially on television.

The programmes’ focus is the stories of those directly affected by or acting in the conflict. There is no context provided or debate about the causes. There was no questioning of the statements given by offenders, thus allowing them to define the truth. Truth commissions traditionally question and try to reach forensic truth. Emotive television of this type also invariably draws one to the plight of the victims. This is important but conflict resolution is not only about sympathising with victims, important as that is. It demands that everyone across society recognises their own capacity for wrongdoing at the same time.

In the project Healing Through Remembering, a five-year-old initiative that brings together over 80 people from different political perspectives each month to wrestle with questions about the past, the issue of considering one’s own role in the past is discussed under the rubric of “reflection”. Reflecting on the past, not merely remembering it, necessitates that we consider not only victims’ suffering but also how we all supported or fuelled the conflict through direct action, our attitudes or our failure to act.

Resolving conflict requires reflection and public debate on levels of complicity and guilt, not only recognition of the hurt caused or confessions from direct actors. This process should be supported by public acknowledgment of hurts inflicted. This leaves no one untouched, and all institutions need to examine their role in the past — among others, paramilitaries, the governments, churches, the judiciary, political parties, the education system and the media.

The view of Healing Through Remembering is that there are no quick fixes and no one is neutral in protracted political conflict. A range of interrelated options for dealing with the past are required, such as a living memorial museum, a day of reflection, a network of commemoration projects, and collective storytelling. For truth recovery, an informed debate is necessary, evidenced by the misperceptions created by the recent programmes. To this end, Healing Through Remembering will shortly be launching five detailed options for truth recovery for public discussion. There is no doubt that the BBC programmes have stimulated debate on dealing with the past. Questions, however, remain as to whether the focus on victims and offenders, as in the first major media intervention on this issue, has not confounded the reconciliation discussion. It certainly has confused many as to what really happened in South Africa. A more complicated, nuanced and reflexive debate about the past is needed, with a healthy and functional political context and, of course, the media have a role in this. But in the long run, this will demand something more subtle than eerie music and darkly lit forums where victims and perpetrators meet in the glare of the camera, no matter how moving or personally transformative such meetings might be. 

Originally published by Brandon Hamber in the Daily Ireland, 14 March 2006

Dr Brandon Hamber is a conflict-transformation expert from South Africa living in Belfast and a consultant to the cross-community project Healing Through Remembering. His views do not necessarily reflect those of all the members of the project. Contact mail@brandonhamber.com. Visit the www.brandonhamber.com for more information

Truth in Northern Ireland

BBC Northern Ireland security editor Brian Rowan looks at the question of how best to close the past and give victims their place in the new Northern Ireland. Click here. I have written a short response, mainly to the frantic TV coverage of the issue this week in Northern Ireland, click here.

A truth commission for Northern Ireland?

This week the BBC has been focusing on dealing with the past in Northern Ireland. The most startling thing about this debate has been how issues have been narrowed before genuine discussion has started. Concepts like truth and justice have been bandied about as if they were mutually exclusive and as if they meant the same to everyone.

The South African model has been used as a benchmark for discussion, with little recognition of what it was about. The other twenty or so truth commissions, in societies as diverse as Ghana, Peru, Argentina, Chile and Sierra Leone, have meanwhile been ignored.

Suddenly, out of nowhere, it seems we all should have an opinion on whether there should be a truth commission for Northern Ireland. Ground work already done on these issues has been neglected, and more measured approaches circumvented.

Debate on this issue is vital, and the more the better. But some key points have been lost in the media circus.

First, dealing with decades of conflict is long-term, complex and time-consuming. It cannot be summed up in a few interviews or emails. It will not entail a single approach or model. International lessons suggest it takes decades. We should not look for any quick fixes.

We should not rush into opinions on different methods before we have agreed that remembering, acknowledgement, truth and justice are important issues for victims and society at large. We must interrogate what we mean by these terms and debate our different perspectives.

The past can only be dealt with if all concerned enter the debate in an inclusive way, aimed at entrenching peace. We should not underestimate the importance of getting this right, ensuring that the discussion is aimed at reconciliation and not point-scoring.

If we do not first agree the underlying principles, all discussion will be contorted and subject to political wrangling. This will ultimately result in mechanisms that will continue the conflict by different means, rather than finding ways constructively to resolve it.

The most extensive consultation on this issue to date has been carried out by the Healing Through Remembering Project. This sought to document possible mechanisms and realisable options for how remembering should occur, so that healing could take place for all those affected. This took two years of discussion.

Importantly, this consultation was run by a board reflecting a range of very diverse backgrounds. The project received over 100 written submissions and recorded thousands of hits on its website.

Many submissions endorsed the value of remembering and spoke of the importance of finding ways to move society forward. But others expressed concerns about the potential pitfalls. The idea of remembering also evoked an emotional response, indicative of much hurt and unresolved pain. The project’s recommendations include a focus on truth recovery, but extend well beyond it.

This is the second point: dealing with the past needs to be seen as wider than a truth-recovery process. Any such mechanism should run alongside other initiatives, such as storytelling, a living museum about the conflict, an annual day of reflection and a network of commemoration projects. Many community projects are also part of the picture.

In the same vein, although victims are central in dealing with the past, thorough engagement demands a focus on the entire society. This is vital when considering the issue of responsibility for the hurts suffered.

It was pointed out in several of the submissions that the need to revisit the past was not confined to those who saw themselves as primarily involved in the conflict: politicians, victims and those who carried out violent acts. For any collective remembering to be helpful it needs to engage the entire society and particularly those who saw themselves as ‘uninvolved'. The whole society has a responsibility to deal with the past.

Thirdly, the Healing Through Remembering Project does recommend that a formal truth-recovery process should be given careful consideration, though only as one part of dealing with the past. But it stipulates that an important first step is a process of acknowledgement, by all, of acts of commission and/or omission.

Political parties, the British and Irish states, republican and loyalist paramilitaries and other institutions would all need fully to acknowledge the extent of their particular culpability. In fact, we should all consider what we have done and have not done to prevent loss of life. Sincere acknowledgment is the key foundation for exploring truth recovery in an even-tempered, self-effacing and responsible manner.

Published by Brandon Hamber, 11 June 2003

Brandon Hamber works as an independent consultant to the Healing Through Remembering Project and is a research associate of Democratic Dialogue in Belfast.

Recognition and Reckoning- The way ahead on victims issues

Book Launch
Recognition and Reckoning- The way ahead on victims issues
Democratic Dialogue, Report 15

How to address the needs of the victims of the conflict in and about Northern Ireland remains a question as salient today as when the ‘peace process’ began in the early 1990s. In April 2002, the Office of the First and Deputy First Minister launched a victim strategy, Reshape Rebuild Achieve. This aims to ‘deliver practical help and services’ to victims. Democratic Dialogue convened a round table in December 2002 to evaluate the progress of the strategy. A range of victim groups, statutory and voluntary agencies and experts in the field participated. Recognition and Reckoning consists of contributions from influential policy-makers, practioners and academics made at the round table. It is essential reading for anyone trying to fully understand the complexities of Northern Ireland’s past and dealing with the perplexing long-term issues at its core.At the press launch of Recognition and Reckoning contributors to the report will share their perspectives. Inputs from: Prof Roy McClelland, Chair Healing Through Remembering Project, and Alan McBride and Patricia MacBride, Victim Representatives on the Civic Forum.

Download Report

Date: 3 June 2003 Time: 12 noon Venue:Europa Hotel, Belfast
R.S.V.P Ellen Finlay Tel: 02890220050 Fax: 02890220051 Email: ellen@democracticdialogue.org