THE IDEA of having permanent independent panels to conduct inquiries into public issues was suggested yesterday by the lawyer who represented families in the Hillsborough inquiry in Britain.
At the annual conference of the International Bar Association in Dublin yesterday, leading English barrister Michael Mansfield said panels should also be established internationally.
Mr Mansfield represented the Hillsborough Family Support Group at the Hillsborough Independent Panel, which examined the causes of the Hillsborough soccer stadium disaster, which claimed 96 lives in 1989.
Mr Mansfield was speaking at a session entitled “Peace after terror: rules or reconciliation?” He said that inquiries were too often judge-led. “The process becomes the dominant feature.”
He said this did not happen with the Hillsborough panel, which was chaired by the bishop of Liverpool, the Rt Rev James Jones, who had the moral authority to perform the task. The panel included one lawyer and a couple of archivists skilled in unearthing documents.
“It met in private, so it could not be got at. But there was transparency in its report,” Mr Mansfield said.
“In all these situations, whether Hillsborough or Bloody Sunday or whatever, the first demand people have is to know the truth. Some people also want accountability, but that does not necessarily mean prosecutions.”
Northern Ireland Deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness told the session that the fact that the 100th anniversary celebration of the signing of the Ulster Covenant last Saturday had passed off so peacefully showed the extent of the transformation of the political landscape.
The peace process was long and sometimes difficult, he said. “It’s like a bicycle: it needs to move forward or it will collapse.”
Following the establishment of the International Criminal Court and other regional tribunals examining war crimes and crimes against humanity, the perpetrators now live in the shadow of justice, United Nations legal counsel Patricia O’Brien said in a public interview with former CNN news anchor Todd Benjamin.
“They know there is a day of justice coming,” she said. “They can push it back but they can’t avoid it. There will be justice for Syria.”
She acknowledged there was paralysis in the UN Security Council on the question of Syria, but said as legal counsel she operated within the law of the UN – the charter, which included the veto.