Rights and Wrongs

The Human Rights Act (HRA) came into force in the UK on 2nd October 2000. Article 2 of the Convention on Human Rights guarantees ‘the right to life’. Article 2 could also be invoked if it can be shown that death would have been avoided.

The army, the police and the prisons are three main institutions of state control. When those working for these institutions are linked to death or murder, implicated in collusion or protected from being held accountable to the victims’ families – the struggles for truth and justice go on and on and on.

Can it be right that victims’ families are denied answers to the basic questions about how and why a loved one died? What happens to victims’ families when they are denied basic information and are forced endure long struggles for justice and the truth?

The relatives of those murdered on Bloody Sunday, Stephen Lawrence and Zahid Mubarek, are some of those who have faced such struggles. They share a common ground in their determination to find the truth and have sought their answers through endless campaigning, which has resulted in a ‘public inquiry’.

The victims also share common ground, in that their murders were avoidable or their killers have never been brought to justice. They share other common ground, that they were deliberately targeted for violence as members of minority communities.

In England, Scotland and Wales, racist violence is a significant problem affecting minority communities and there have been dozens of deaths since the murder of Stephen Lawrence. In Northern Ireland the recent rise of brutal racist attacks on the new minority communities has reached unprecedented levels. Whereas the nationalist community of the north of Ireland has been - and still are - the target of death threats, fire-bombings of their homes and savage beatings - these are the real issues now also facing Chinese people, those from Eastern Europe and Muslims living in Northern Ireland.

This event provides a rare opportunity to learn about and discuss the reality of the above issues, from those with frontline first-hand experience of dealing with them.
A special public event marking the 4th Anniversary of The Human Rights Act

South West Civil Rights Forum
“Unfinished Business”
Murder, Racist Violence, Collusion, Public Inquiries and family struggles for truth and justice

Saturday 2nd October 2004
1130am – 1.30pm & 2.30pm – 4.30pm

Royal Clarence Hotel
Cathedral Yard
Exeter City Centre

Speakers to include:
Cahil McElhinney
Bloody Sunday Trust
Brother of Kevin McElhinney who was murdered by the British Army on Bloody Sunday

John O’Dowd MLA
Northern Ireland Assembly Member and Sinn Fein spokesperson for Health and Public Safety

Suresh Grover
National Civil Rights Movement
Coordinator Stephen Lawrence Family Campaign

Imtiaz Amin
Zahid Mubarek Family Campaign
Uncle of Zahid Mubarek who was beaten to death by a racist inside Feltham YOI

Mark Sykes & Sharon Pickering
"An Firinne"
Victims of Collusion -Truth Campaign

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Organised jointly by and for further information:
National Civil Rights Movement - NCRM
(Jon 07940 115827)
www.ncrm.org.uk
Troops Out Movement - TOM
(Mary 07970 174167)
www.troopsoutmovement.com