In the latest episode of LawPod, Mitchell Institute Honorary Professor of Practice, Brian Dooley, Senior Advisor at Human Rights First and member of The International Expert Panel, joins Lauren Dempster and Kevin Hearty to discuss state violence in Northern Ireland, the report’s development and findings, and the impact of the Northern Ireland Troubles (Legacy and Reconciliation) Act 2023 on efforts to address the legacy of the past.

In April of this year, the report, Bitter Legacy: State Impunity in the Northern Ireland Conflict, was published.  Written by a panel of international human rights experts (The International Expert Panel on Impunity) convened by the Norwegian Centre for Human Rights at the request of the Committee on the Administration of Justice and the Pat Finucane Centre, the report documents “widespread, systematic and systemic” impunity for British state involvement in killings, torture and ill-treatment, and collusion.

You can access the report here.

Please note that this episode was recorded on 3 July 2024, one day before the UK General Election in which the Government that introduced the ‘Legacy and Reconciliation’ Act discussed in this episode lost power. The new Secretary of State for Northern Ireland has since provided an update to parliament on the new Government’s approach to the Act.

The LawPod Podcast series provides a platform to explore law and legal research in an engaging and scholarly way and is co-ordinated by Dr Lauren Dempster, Institute Fellow: Rights and Social Justice.