Global Congress of Victims of Terrorism
The first United Nations Global Congress of Victims of Terrorism (“Global Congress”), organized by the United Nations Office of Counter-Terrorism (UNOCT), will be held from 8-9 September 2022 at the UN Headquarters in New York under the theme of “Advancing the Rights and Needs of Victims of Terrorism”. The Global Congress brought together more than 600 participants and will be the world's largest and most diverse gathering of victims of terrorism, Member States, civil society, experts, academics and the private sector convened at this level.
The Global Congress was live-streamed on UN Web TV to ensure virtual participation for victims across the globe and allowed for a diverse audience of stakeholders with the aim of advancing the dialogue and engagement on a victim-centric approach. It was a valuable event and even watching online gave local victims an opportunity to see that they have not been forgotten.
“The Congress aims to encourage genuine interaction between victims of terrorism, associations of victims and Member States on key issues such as protection, remembrance and recognition, access to justice and support and assistance,” said Mr. Vladimir Voronkov, the Under-Secretary- General for Counter-Terrorism, on the occasion of the International Day of Remembrance of and Tribute to the Victims of Terrorism, which was commemorated on 21 August. “An important objective for the Congress is to place issues faced by victims of terrorism high on the international community’s agenda, by providing information, good practices and inspiration with the goal of enshrining the rights of victims of terrorism in domestic frameworks.”
It has given our members a renewed vision for ensuring that their rights and their experience is not forgotten.
UN International Victims of Terrorism Day
International Day of Remembrance of and Tribute to the Victims of Terrorism, 21 August 2022
The fifth International Day of Remembrance of and Tribute to the Victims of Terrorism was commemorated on 21 August 2022. It took place as the world struggles to transition out of the public health emergency triggered by the COVID-19 pandemic and confronted the social transformations it has created or accelerated. At the same time, victims of terrorism continued to experience uncertainty and anxiety as armed conflicts, violent attacks, and terrorist acts around the world continued to make headlines and perhaps exacerbate or trigger their traumas.
Remembrance of and paying tribute to victims of terrorism plays a central role in demonstrating that their status as victims is respected and recognized. The International Day serves to commemorate and uphold the dignity of victims and highlights the importance of global solidarity in ensuring that victims are not forgotten.
The theme was “Memories” and was selected following consultation with victims and victims’ associations. Memories bind us together as if connected by a red thread, a fil rouge: a thread that signifies our common humanity and solidarity with those who have suffered irreparable losses in the most heinous of circumstances.
To mark the fifth commemoration of the International Day, the United Nations Office of Counter-Terrorism (UNOCT) organized a high-level pre-recorded event entitled ‘Surviving Terrorism: The Power of Memories’ to be broadcast on Sunday, 21 August 2022, on UN Web TV. The pre-recorded event was opened by the United Nations Secretary-General, Mr. António Guterres, and featured the participation of the co-Chairs of the Group of Friends of Victims of Terrorism, the Republic of Iraq, and the Kingdom of Spain, testimonies from four victims of terrorism, and closing remarks by Under-Secretary-General for Counter-Terrorism, Mr. Vladimir Voronkov.
The cornerstone of 2022's virtual observance was the “Memories”Opens a new window campaign, launched by UNOCT’s United Nations Counter-Terrorism Centre (UNCCT) earlier this year. Through film, photography, and carefully crafted captions, the “Memories” campaign tells the stories of victims of terrorism from across the globe who share their memories, emotions and the meaning that they attach to a personal object.
THE KINGSMILLS MASSACRE: A CRIME AGAINST HUMANITY?
THE KINGSMILLS MASSACRE: A CRIME AGAINST HUMANITY?
On 5 January 1976, ten Protestant workers from a textile factory in Glenanne (County Armagh) were machine-gunned by a group calling itself the south Armagh Republican Action Force. On their way back home from the factory their bus was stopped. The IRA terrorists asked each worker his religion. One of them identified himself as Roman Catholic and the ten others as Protestants. The Catholic workman was told “to get out of the way” and to “run up the road”.
The Protestant workers were lined up and summarily executed by the terrorists with automatic weapons. The scene on the road where nine men lay dead was one of “indescribable carnage” according to a police officer. Only one of them survived, although he was hit 18 times. Ten years later, he described to the Belfast Newsletter what happened that day: “The talk on the minibus that night was no different than normal. There had been talk earlier in the factory that day about the killing of the young Reavey brothers from Whitecross. It horrified us all. We passed through Whitecross village shortly after 5.30 p.m. and when our minibus was stopped, a short distance up the road past Kingsmills crossroads, we thought it was the army. A group of about 12 armed men, unmasked but with their faces blackened and wearing combat jackets, surrounded the vehicle and ordered us all out on to the road. Even then few of us thought there was anything amiss. One man, with a pronounced English accent, did all the talking and proceeded to ask each of us our religion. Our Roman Catholic work colleague was ordered to clear off and the shooting started. It was all over within a minute and after the initial screams there was silence. I was semi-conscious and passed out several times with the deadly pain and the cold. A man appeared on the scene. He was in a terrible state and was praying loudly as he passed along the rows of bodies. He must have heard my groans and came across to comfort me. I must have been lying at the roadside waiting on the ambulance for up to 30 minutes. It was like an eternity and I can remember someone moving my body from one side to the other to help ease the pain”. He also stated “I remained in the Bessbrook area for a time, but as I left my young daughter to school every morning I was confronted by the orphans of men murdered in the massacre. It brought it all back on a daily basis and I decided to move to Scotland. Two years in Scotland helped me to adjust but I knew I had to return home to Bessbrook. Even now when I hear of an innocent person being killed the horror of the massacre all comes back and I can feel every bullet hitting me. Bessbrook lost its heart through that massacre. It was once a vibrant happy community full of life and enjoyment. What was done that night was a sheer waste, a futile exercise that advanced no cause.”
This odious massacre raises the issue as to whether it should be classified as a crime against humanity carried out by IRA terrorists. The offense of crime against humanity was first mentioned in 1915 by the Allied Powers to charge the Ottoman Government for committing the Armenian genocide. Since that time the requirements for establishing a crime against humanity have evolved in customary international law.
Case-law from the Nuremberg Tribunal and the Trial Chamber of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia have both contributed to the definition of what a crime against humanity is. The Rome Statute, which provides for the International Criminal Court (ICC) to have jurisdiction over crimes against humanity as well as genocide and war crimes, has probably given the most advanced definition of what a crime against humanity is.
Article 7 of the Statute gives a list of eleven acts that are crimes against humanity when committed as part of a widespread or systematic attack directed against any civilian population, including: murder; imprisonment; torture; persecution against any identifiable group or collectivity on political, racial, national, ethnic, cultural, religious, gender … or other grounds that are universally recognized as impermissible under international law, in connection with any act referred to in the same paragraph; enforced disappearance of persons, other inhumane acts of a similar character intentionally causing great suffering, or serious injury to body or to mental and physical health. In the case of the Kingsmills massacre, the act of murder can also be described as one of persecution against civilians because of their Protestant religion.
The Commentary on the Rome Statute indicates two other elements that are required for a crime against humanity to be established: first, the act must be part of a widespread or systematic practice; and second, that practice must be tolerated or condoned by a government or a de facto authority.
As regards the act being part of a widespread and systematic practice, it can hardly be denied that the Kingsmills massacre was part of a widespread campaign of terrorism waged by the IRA and started in 1969. This campaign resorted to extreme violence that was carried out in most areas of Northern Ireland but particularly in the border regions with the Irish Republic. The wide practice of atrocities involved murders, tortures, abductions and enforced disappearances of people, intimidations, threats mainly against Protestant people and all those who were opposed to IRA violence and/or their political aims. The Kingsmills massacre, which was a most barbaric atrocity, was part of the widespread IRA terrorist campaign and was not an isolated or sporadic act.
The last element required for a crime against humanity to be established is that the practice or policy must be tolerated or condoned by a government or a de facto authority. Initially, the practice or policy had to be that of a State, as was the case in relation to Nazi Germany. However, since the Nuremberg Tribunal, customary international law has developed to take into account forces which, although not those of the legitimate government, have de facto control over a defined territory. The authority could be an entity exercising de facto control over a particular territory without the formal status of being the government of a de jure State, or it could be a terrorist organisation . The issue that needs to be considered is whether or not the IRA had control over part or the whole of the territory of Northern Ireland. To answer that question one must examine the political aims and practice of the IRA. This terrorist organisation has always stated that they were opposed to the legal and legitimate authorities of the United Kingdom, which they wanted to eliminate. The IRA instituted itself as an authority controlling extended areas, as they demonstrated by taking control of the Bogside quarter of Londonderry in 1969. Since the beginning of the terrorist campaign, the IRA has developed as a de facto authority in Northern Ireland, ruling by fear and violence in pursuance of their political aim to destroy the recognised British authorities and eventually exercise control in their place. By means of terrorist activity, the IRA has indeed succeeded in accessing the government of Northern Ireland while maintaining the Army Council so as to retain their ability to return to widespread violence if necessary. Behind the appearance of a legitimate government, even today the IRA is exercising a de facto control over the territory of Northern Ireland.
If we apply the criteria of the developed customary international law with a clear understanding of the political objectives pursued and achieved by the IRA, the Kingsmills massacre can be described as a crime against humanity for which those responsible should be prosecuted.
Service and Supreme Sacrifice
For over 30 years the brave men and women of the UDR defended Northern Ireland from Irish Terrorists namely the IRA. Today they are in Iraq and Afghanistan.
RIR the Royal Irish Regiment formerly the UDR, Ulster Defence Regiment
The Ulster Defence Regiment (UDR) was an infantry regiment of the British Army. It was a locally raised, part time and full time unit, intended to carry out security duties within Northern Ireland. It was amalgamated in 1992 with the Royal Irish Rangers, forming the Royal Irish Regiment (27th (Inniskilling) 83rd and 87th and Ulster Defence Regiment).
Birth of the Regiment
The birth of the Regiment was a result of the civil unrest of the late 1960s which had threatened to overwhelm the Royal Ulster Constabulary and which had led to the deployment of Regular Army units to assist the police. In 1969 the Hunt Report recommended the disbandment of the Ulster Special Constabulary and its replacement by a reserve element of the RUC and a locally-recruited part-time force, The Ulster Defence Regiment.
7 Battalions
Initially the Regiment had seven battalions: 1st (Co Antrim); 2nd (Co Armagh); 3rd (Co Down); 4th (Co Fermanagh); 5th (Co Londonderry); 6th (Co Tyrone) and 7th (City of Belfast). The UDR achieved the remarkable distinction of carrying out its first operational duties on the day on which it was formed, 1 April 1970.
1972
In 1972 four additional battalions were added to the Regiment's strength: these were 8th (Co Tyrone); 9th (Co Antrim); 10th (City of Belfast) and 11th (Craigavon) Battalions. By the end of 1972 the complement of The Ulster Defence Regiment had reached 9,200, its greatest strength. The regiment had been "called out" for periods of full-time service to meet operational requirements, including Operation Motorman in 1972.
Greenfinches
The following year, 1973, saw the introduction of female soldiers to the Regiment to carry out searching of females. From the beginning women were fully integrated, wearing the Ulster Defence Regiment's cap badge in which respect the Regiment was almost twenty years ahead of the rest of the Army. The women soldiers quickly became known as Greenfinches, a popular nickname which has stuck down through the years. More importantly, they played a vital part in the Regiment's operational role.
Operational Effeciency
From its earliest days, when patrols sometimes deployed in private cars and patrol commanders had to report in from telephone kiosks because of the inadequate range of the first radios, the Regiment rapidly increased its operational efficiency to the point where it was able to assume tactical responsibility for 85 per cent of Northern Ireland as the first line of support for the Royal Ulster Constabulary. As a result, the number of full-time soldiers also increased and by 1980 full-timers were in the majority.
Expertise
The Regiment had its own training establishment at Ballykinler which became its Depot and provided further training for the Regiment's soldiers in a range of skills. All ranks also began attending Regular Army courses at the Schools of Infantry, Intelligence and Military Engineering. As soldiers of the Ulster Defence Regiment concentrated on the internal security role the Regiment built up an expertise in such duties that remains unrivalled throughout the Army. Links were also created with the Army's administrative divisions which provided key personnel, including commanding officers, for their affiliated UDR battalions. Short tours with UDR battalions were also offered to officers throughout the Army.
Reductions
Further improvements in operational efficiency heralded a reduction in the number of battalions; in 1984, there were amalgamations in Antrim and Belfast to create 1st/9th (Co Antrim) and 7th/10th (City of Belfast) Battalions. The Regiment retained nine battalions until 1991 when 2 UDR and 11 UDR amalgamated as 2nd/11th Battalion, The Ulster Defence Regiment, and 4 and 6 UDR became 4th/6th Battalion.
Presentation of Colours
In 1991 the Regiment came of age: twenty-one years after formation, Colours were presented to four battalions at Lisburn by Her Majesty The Queen. This was a singular honour since it is rare that the Sovereign personally presents Colours, except to the Household Division. The remaining battalions received their Colours before The Ulster Defence Regiment became part of The Royal Irish Regiment.
Freedoms
The City of Belfast and a number of boroughs throughout Northern Ireland paid their own tribute to the Regiment by granting Freedoms while the community relations work of 7th/10th (City of Belfast) Battalion was recognised by the award of the Wilkinson Sword of Peace for 1990.
Today the RIR Ulstermen are in Afghanistan
A Heavy Price Paid for Peace
The price paid by The Ulster Defence Regiment was high: 197 soldiers were killed, the majority were off-duty, and a further 60 were killed after they had left the UDR. On the Regimental Roll of Honour the first name is that of Private Winston Donnell of 6 UDR, shot dead at a vehicle checkpoint near Clady, County Tyrone, on 9 August 1971. The Regiment had been called out following the introduction of internment that day.
Murdered
The men, and women, of the Regiment were not safe anywhere, nor at any time: more personnel were murdered while off duty, either at home or in the course of their civilian employment, than lost their lives in uniform. Even those who had left the Regiment did not always find safety; forty-seven former soldiers have been murdered after ceasing to be UDR personnel. Others, especially in the Fermanagh border area, were forced to move to safer areas and had to sell their homes and, sometimes, their land as a result of imminent terrorist threat.
Fortieth Anniversary of Narrow-water
A service has taken place near Warrenpoint to mark 40 years since 18 soldiers died (Picture: PA).
Veterans have gathered at a roadside at Narrow Water, County Down, to remember 18 soldiers who were killed at the spot by two IRA bombs 40 years ago.
More than 200 veterans, politicians and local people were present for a service and wreath-laying ceremony on the banks of Carlingford Lough.
Those in attendance include survivors of the atrocity which took place on 27 August 1979 close to Warrenpoint.
The IRA exploded the remote-control bombs from a firing point on the other side of the river, in the Republic of Ireland.
Six soldiers travelling in an Army vehicle were killed by the first bomb, which was planted in a hay lorry parked at the side of the road.
As colleagues arrived to help, a second device exploded 30 minutes later, killing 12 more troops.
It was the highest death toll suffered by the Army on a single day in Northern Ireland.
The service remembering the incident comes on the same day as a service at Mullaghmore in County Sligo to commemorate the 40th anniversary of the IRA murder of Second World War commander Lord Louis Mountbatten and three others.
A bomb on board a fishing boat killed the Queen's second cousin, two members of the former First Sea Lord's family and a Co Fermanagh teenager.
The mother and father of Paul Maxwell, the Fermanagh teenager who died, were among those who gathered for the outdoor service on a clifftop overlooking the scene of the atrocity.
FAIR Memorial Quilts Display
European Day for Victims
Members of Families Acting for Innocent Relatives attended an event hosted today at Parliament Buildings, Stormont to mark the European Day for Victims of Terrorism.
A memorial quilt exhibition serving as a tribute to innocent victims of terrorist violence was also launched at Parliament Buildings.
A number of quilts created by members of Families Acting for Innocent Relatives will be on display at Parliament Buildings during the period of the exhibition which runs between Tuesday 6th March and Monday 19th March.
Our photograph shows members of our group beside one of the FAIR quilts on display at Stormont.
As you can see from the Quilt there are tear drops on the quilt to represent the tears shed by so many victims and indeed the ladies who sewed the quilt in 2004 namely, Molly, Ann, Betty, Ruth and Eva. It represented some of the worst atrocities carried out.
Memorial Attacked
FAIR Chairman Harry Bell MBE spoke out after the most recent attack on a victims memorial in South Armagh. The latest memorial on the Ballymoyer Road marks the spot where his brother Johnny Bell was murdered by the PIRA in 1975.
Police in Newtownhamilton are appealing for information after damage was caused to a memorial plaque in south Armagh. A PSNI spokesperson said the criminal damage happened during the early hours of yesterday, Sunday, May 10, on the Ballymoyer Road at the junction of Ballymoyer Lane.
The memorial had been erected to UDR Lance Corporal David John Bell, who was murdered by the IRA 40 years ago.
Newry and Armagh Ulster Unionist MLA Danny Kennedy condemned those responsible.
He expressed his disgust at “an act of vandalism on a memorial erected for an off duty soldier murdered by IRA terrorists in South Armagh in 1975”.
Mr Kennedy said: “This act of wanton vandalism is another disgraceful attack against innocent victims of terrorism in South Armagh.
“It is very upsetting for Mr Harry Bell MBE , the only surviving family member and brother of Johnny Bell, who was shot and murdered driving home from his place of work by the IRA on 6 November 1975.
“It seems that 40 years later, there is an element of society which cannot bear to be reminded of the murderous past of republicans in this part of Northern Ireland. They will not succeed.
“The memorial to Ulster Defence Regiment L/Corporal David John Bell will be repaired. We will remember with gratitude brave men like Johnny Bell, and the sacrifice they made to keep the entire community safe and free.”
Sharing the Dragon's Teeth
RAND Study Finds Terrorist Groups Teach Each Other Deadly Skills
A Report by the internationally respected Rand Corporation a think tank which specialises in conflict research has supported the findings of a FAIR Report into the links between FARC and the PIRA. We exposed the international web of terrorist organisations which trade in terrorism technology and techniques in exchange for drug money.
Terrorist groups around the world with different ideologies and from different religious and ethnic backgrounds have improved their effectiveness by teaching each other deadly skills such as bomb-making and guerilla warfare techniques, according to a RAND Corporation report issued today.
“Terrorist groups that have little in common and with very different goals are sharing knowledge for their mutual benefit, and that's bad news,” said Brian A. Jackson, one of the authors of the report and the associate director of the RAND Homeland Security Research Program.
Groups from regions as varied as the Middle East, Colombia, Indonesia and the United Kingdom have traded destructive technologies, researchers found. Both the student and the teacher usually receive some benefit, according to the study by RAND, a nonprofit research organization.
Technology sharing among terrorist groups has not received a great deal of attention. But studying the exchanges provides a new means of understanding the behavior of terrorist groups and highlights another part of the complex threat posed by terrorism, according to researchers.
Researchers examined 11 terrorist groups that operate in the Middle East, South America and Southeast Asia. Examples of the sharing of technological knowledge among terrorist groups include:
- In Mindanao in the Philippines, the Indonesian group Jemaah Islamiyah trained Filipino terrorists. New technologies transferred included remote detonation, improvised explosive devices, and pressure-activated switches designed to detonate bombs should security forces attempt to deactivate them. These exchanges improved the operational effectiveness and helped increase the number of attacks by militant groups in the Philippines from 2003 to 2005. For Jemaah Islamiyah, the effort provided its members safe havens.
- In the former demilitarized zone in southwest Colombia, the Provisional Irish Republican Army trained terrorists in the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, commonly referred to as FARC (Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarios de Colombia). New technologies and knowledge included remote-detonation technologies and Mark 18 “barracks-buster” mortars, as well as guerrilla warfare tactics. These skills helped FARC improve its urban warfare capabilities in 2001. The IRA reportedly benefited by using the freedom of the demilitarized zone to experiment with its own weapons and received cash from FARC.
“In most of the instances we studied, both groups experience some type of operational benefit from the effort,” Jackson said. “It's that shared benefit that that usually drives the relationship, not just shared philosophies or goals.”
Researchers say their findings suggest that analysts seeking to understand terrorist group behaviors and assess the level of threat they pose should broaden their view of the risks posed by skilled terrorists.
For example, given concern about terrorist interest in unconventional weapons, individuals with skills involving chemical, biological, radiological or nuclear technology are frequently a central focus of counterterrorism analysts.
But the RAND study shows the importance of individuals with expertise in conventional explosive technologies as well. Understanding the factors that shape individuals who transfer such knowledge from one organization to another can lead to a better understanding of how the terrorist threat will evolve in the future.
The report, “Sharing the Dragon's Teeth: Terrorist Groups and the Exchange of New Technologies,” is available at www.rand.org.
The RAND study was sponsored by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. Other authors of the report are Kim Cragin, Peter Chalk and Sara A. Daly of RAND.
The study was produced by the Homeland Security Program in the RAND Infrastructure, Safety and Environment Division. The Homeland Security Program provides research and analysis to Congress, along with federal, state and local government agencies and private sector clients charged with preventing and mitigating the effects of terrorist activity within U.S. borders.
FAIR Looks Back - Paisley Visit
Dr Paisley visits FAIR April 2005
Today at 2:15 pm Dr Ian Paisley paid a visit to the victims of terrorism in south Armagh. We were grateful to be able to welcome the DUP leader to our Markethill office to spend time with a number of our members. Dr Paisley has been a keen supporter and follower of our work over the years.
He was given a brief tour around the office and shown the various features of our centre such as the memorial stone and our office facilities. He also saw our recently launched memorial quilt that commemorates the lives of those that suffered at the hands of terrorists and the tragic events perpetrated by in our area, a poignant reminder of the suffering and pain felt by so many.
Members of the group were able to highlight issues of concern to the DUP leader, including the security threat that has been constantly ignored by the government in their pursuit of appeasement demilitarisation. The issue of smuggling was also raised and the financial support this provides to the IRA. Dr Paisley reminded us of action he has taking in parliament regarding this and of his desire to see those issues addressed.
Accompanying Dr Paisley were local DUP councillors Heather Black and Freda Donnelly, and assemblyman Paul Berry MLA. The victims of terrorism from the group who came to speak to Dr Paisley were greatly encouraged by his words and his assurances of continued support and endorsement of the work of the group. His visit, in taking time out from a busy schedule, was greatly appreciated by all.
Dr Paisley with some of the talented members that made the quilt
DUP representatives at the FAIR memorial stone
A most welcome and positive visit from oldest and youngest DUP MLAs
A happy day!