Ulster Human Rights Watch (UHRW) welcomes the news that the Stormont Executive Office has pledged to pay for the Troubles Victims’ Payment Scheme. Axel Schmidt, UHRW Advocacy Manager says “Innocent victims and their families are greatly relieved to hear this news. It removes uncertainty and doubt and is long overdue. We eagerly await details of how and when the scheme will be rolled out.”
Ulster Human Rights Watch (UHRW) is calling on local political parties to keep berating and embarrassing the Government over its failure to secure compensation for victims of Libyan-backed atrocities.
UHRW Advocacy Manager, Axel Schmidt, said: “The Government’s track record on delivering compensation for innocent victims of acts of terrorism enabled by the Gaddafi regime is shameful and morally indefensible.
“Victims of Semtex bombs and armaments supplied to PIRA by Gaddafi are not so much shunted to the back of the queue as shoved into the ‘forgotten’ box.
“It seems the Government wants them to go away and those of us who care simply cannot believe any British Government would treat its people in such a cavalier and callous fashion.
“It is heartless. It is callous. It is monstrous. Ulster Human Rights Watch is calling on all Northern Ireland parties who care about the plight of innocent victims of terrorism to berate and embarrass a Government that doesn’t care.
“This Government should be called out at every opportunity, whether on the floor of the House of Commons or in Select Committees. We demand answers. The big question is why the Government won’t do what the American, German and French administrations have already done in securing millions of pounds in compensation for their victims of Libyan-backed terrorism.
“It’s time the Prime Minister got a grip on this intolerable situation and showed compassion to British people, particularly those in Northern Ireland, who suffered appallingly at the hands of PIRA terrorists using Libyan explosives and armaments to inflict pain and suffering on innocent people.”
The decision by the Court of Appeal to adjourn a decision on the Victims’ Payment scheme until the 26th March is yet another disappointment for innocent victims of terrorism, according to Ulster Human Rights Watch (UHRW).
UHRW Advocacy Manager, Axel Schmidt, said: “This latest delay follows a claim made by The Executive Office that it cannot afford the scheme.
“The Executive Office is at loggerheads with the Government over funding for the scheme and this excuse expressed in Court does nothing to assuage the views of innocent victims that they are being used as pawns in a grubby political tug-o-war.
“It is scandalous that this situation has been allowed to drag on for a year. Ministers are seemingly indifferent to the pain and suffering their indecision and in-fighting are causing people in need.
“Innocent victims, through no fault of their own, are living with shocking and awful injuries and conditions due to the actions of mindless terrorists. Every day that passes without a resolution to the Payments Scheme leaves them feeling they are forgotten and abandoned at the very back of the queue.
“This is not the way for a civilised society to treat its most vulnerable and needy.”