Victims’ organisation SEFF honoured by Spanish victims’ collective

Representatives from South East Fermanagh Foundation (SEFF) travelled to San Sebastian in Spain to receive the award and to attend a joint seminar event attended by about 150 public policy, academic, political and media representatives.

The Victims of Terrorism Collective (Covite) decided to award the Covite International Award for action in favour of the memory and support of the victims of terrorism to SEFF for its 25 years of work advocating for the rights of victims and survivors of terrorism in Northern Ireland to truth and justice.

Covite is an organisation dedicated to the fight against terrorism and the prevention of violent radicalisation.

Among Spanish victims’ associations, only Covite has the “special consultative status” at the United Nations (UN).

In the announcement of the 2023 award recipient, Covite said SEFF constantly reminded “political and social actors in Northern Ireland that innocent victims deserve a just peace.

“For pointing out, in the context of the process of ending terrorism in Northern Ireland, that there's been a deep dislocation between the political logic of the 'peace process' and the interests and needs of the innocent victims.”

Kenny Donaldson, SEFF's director, said he attended the event with the group's advocacy manager Pete Murtagh.

“We have collaborated with Covite for circa six to seven years now and this has involved us participating in each other's conferences, working together on recording experiences projects and producing a joint memorial quilt bringing together innocent victims of Provisional IRA terrorism in mainland Europe and also innocents of ETA terror,” he said.

“Terrorists have always worked together across nations and continents, they have shared their deadly secrets including weaponry and knowledge around its use through training camps and they have also developed networks around seeking to dominate the narrative, propagating their heinous ideologies and methods to advance fundraising for their campaigns of violence.

“SEFF and Covite (who each celebrate 25th anniversaries this year) share the same values system, a principled opposition to violence and its use in the furtherance of or defence of a political objective.”

Mr Donaldson said his organisation's message to Covite was “clear and unambiguous”.

“We wished to sound caution: Spain – learn from our mistakes,” he said.

“We issued a warning to the Spanish political system and wider society not to appease terrorism.

“We are honoured and privileged to have a close relationship with Covite and in the times ahead our relationship will strengthen and deepen further in our common effort to shine a spotlight on terrorism and to dismantle its crude ideology of self-justification for criminal actions.”