Equality chief’s comments on ex-RUC officers serving on legacy body spark political backlash
Unionist politicians have questioned the independence of the public body set up to safeguard human rights in Northern Ireland, after its chief commissioner said that the position of a top legacy investigator was “untenable” because of his policing past.
Alyson Kilpatrick – Chief Commissioner at the NI Human Rights Commission (NIHCR) – slammed the arrangements for the Independent Commission for Reconciliation and Information Recovery (ICRIR) – saying its lead investigator Peter Sheridan can’t be independent because of his role in the the RUC, and that his position is “untenable”.
A former senior police officer has told the News Letter the NIHRC should be “upholding the principles of fair employment and not undermining them”.
The DUP has said the comments lack professionalism and objectivity – while the Ulster Unionists have said they “are highly political and unhelpful” and warned that the ICRIR won’t have the party’s support if RUC officers are excluded.
TUV boss Jim Allister said NIHRC is a “deeply politicised body, driven by an ideological agenda hostile to any approach which might provide balance or fairness to legacy investigations”.
The NIHRC was set up under the Belfast Agreement “to make sure government and other public bodies protect the human rights of everyone in Northern Ireland”. It is now facing accusations of political bias after the chief commissioner’s comments to the Irish News, in which she also said she has concerns about the ICRIR’s “governance arrangements” and the role of the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland in the arrangements.
Alyson Kilpatrick is a former Independent Human Rights Legal Advisor to the Northern Ireland Policing Board.
The ICRIR – led by Sir Declan Morgan – was established under the Legacy Act, and will revisit Troubles-era murders. It was set up under the last Conservative government’s Legacy Act, and while the current government will repeal much of that law – it has said it will keep the investigatory body in place.
Reacting the NIHCR chief’s comments, DUP Leader Gavin Robinson said the High Court, Appeal Court and UK Supreme Court have all confirmed that the ICRIR is legally independent, even with former police officers involved.
“Yet the Northern Ireland Human Rights Commissioner, Alyson Kilpatrick publicly questioned its independence, a move that lacked professionalism, legal rigour or objectivity.
“The courts from Belfast to London have all come to the same conclusion and ruled that the ICRIC is independent. That legal clarity should be respected.
“Her remarks have raised concerns about the impartiality of the Commission’s leadership and whether those views are shared across the NIHRC. If the Human Rights Commission expects to hold others to account, it must start by holding itself to a higher standard”, the East Belfast MP said.
Jim Allister said the “latest intervention” by the Northern Ireland Human Rights Commission is “as predictable as it is revealing”.
The TUV leader said: “It is astonishing that a statutory body, funded by the taxpayer, would engage in such open hostility towards a judicial figure of Sir Declan Morgan’s standing and a former senior police officer like Peter Sheridan, simply because they are not prepared to toe the republican narrative on legacy.
“The NIHRC’s manufactured outrage is not about human rights — it is about protecting the campaign to rewrite the history, to demonise our security forces, and to sanitise the actions of terrorists.
“The issue with Peter Sheridan is that he served in the RUC and they are effectively saying that RUC officers cannot be impartial which is a slur in itself.
“Sir Declan Morgan and the ICRIT is not beyond criticism — I have been critical of both in the past — but this is not an issue the NIHRC should be involving itself in.
“It is high time the NIHRC was called to account for its partisan interventions. These comments only further confirms that it has long since abandoned the impartial role envisaged for it.”
Former PSNI officer Jon Burrows has also defended Peter Sheridan’s integrity in the ICRIR. He told the News Letter: “These comments are deeply disappointing and very unfair in my view. Peter Sheridan was a highly respected senior police officer who was appointed to his current role in the IIRC on merit and within the law.
“The Northern Ireland Human Rights Commission should upholding the principles of fair employment and not undermining them. It would perverse if former RUC (or indeed PSNI officers) with exemplary service records were excluded from employment opportunities when they offer vital expertise and yet we can have people with serious criminal records in positions such as the Northern Ireland Policing Board”.