The legacy of our recent conflict continues to traumatize victims and survivors.
This community is representative of society at large – it is diverse in nature in terms of background, political persuasion and how historical, legacy events have impacted on our lives.
Individuals and support groups tend to approach the issue of legacy in different ways and we all have our own story to tell. Each individual, family and group must have the right to approach the issue in a manner of their choosing, free to designate for themselves what tactics, strategy and participants they employ to drive their quest for truth, justice and accountability. This should constitute a universal and underlying principle for all victims and survivors and their support groups, irrespective of their perspective of the conflict or their political persuasion.
All members of that community and society at large should and must respect the right of every member to devise their own approach to meet their demands and requirements and access to due process.
If we are really serious about devising a legacy process that is victim-centred and victim-led, then all victims and survivors should be free to pursue their own approach to achieving their objectives. Our campaign has three simple, modest objectives which we believe offers our society the best opportunity to deal with the legacy of the past regardless of background or creed:
- Implement and adequately resource the Stormont House Agreement legacy mechanisms in a human rights compliant manner
- Adequately resource the Lord Chief Justice’s 5-year plan to clear the backlog in legacy inquests
- Adequately resource the Office of the Police Ombudsman to allow it to complete outstanding historical investigations
All Time for Truth Campaign protests and demonstrations are open to the general public to attend, irrespective of their political persuasion.
A single, legitimate narrative of our conflict does not exist despite British Government attempts to impose their narrative upon us. We believe that all narratives regarding the conflict are legitimate and should be respected and considered. Indeed, we have attracted a wide range of speakers at our demonstrations, events and delegations and we hope to continue to do so at future protests and meetings. But our 3 simple objectives remain the same.
So, in Belfast City Centre at 12pm Sunday 9th June, will you walk with us?
