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Troubles legacy bill: 'Significant risk' law struck down by courts

PACEMAKER Soldiers running from a bomb in the Smithfield area of BelfastPACEMAKER

The controversial Troubles legacy bill "runs a very significant risk" of being ruled unlawful by courts, a leading human rights figure has claimed.

Dunja Mijatović, human rights commissioner for the Council of Europe (CoE), also believed the bill would fail to draw a line under the past.

The bill offers a conditional amnesty to those accused of killings and other Troubles-related crimes.

The UK is one of 46 members of the council, a leading human rights body.

Ms Mijatović has written in detail about the legislation following recent meetings in Belfast.

She has previously criticised the legislation, stating it would bring the UK "into conflict" with its obligations under the European Convention on Human Rights.

The obligations include conducting effective investigations into killings.

Getty Images / MARCUS BRANDT Dunja MijatovicGetty Images / MARCUS BRANDT
Ms Mijatović claims the legislation will fall foul of the European Convention on Human Rights

The bill, which is currently before Parliament, would see a new information recovery body established to look into cases, with perpetrators being offered amnesties.

It would bring an end to all police investigations into Troubles-era crimes.

Victims' groups oppose the legislation, as do all Northern Ireland political parties.

In her latest submission for the CoE, Ms Mijatović stated the bill will deprive families of their "full enjoyment" of convention rights.

"The UK government has embarked on a course of action that runs a very significant risk of eventually being found by domestic courts and/or the European Court of Human Rights not to be compliant with the convention," she wrote.

She noted the legislation "has been further damaged" by the perception that its main purpose "is to shield (army) veterans from investigations and prosecutions".

She added that UK government officials have told her that once set up, they expected confidence in the new information body to grow.

However she concluded: "In this case the baseline of trust is so low that it is difficult to see how the mechanisms in the bill will come to garner more confidence during its implementation."

The bill emerged from the Commons before the summer recess with no major amendments and it is due for consideration by the House of Lords in September.