19th March 2007

Today we head for home. We know that a lot of good work has been done but it feels like just the start.
There are a number of things we need to chew over.
Not least was the reception Paul and Raymond got from Unionist political representatives.

Back home both of them are treated as pariahs - "traitors". For our first two days in Washington that is exactly how they continued to be treated. But the impact of the Realtives for Justice delegation was significant and by Day 3 the atmosphere changed. Unionist politicians started to listen to what the men had to say and to acknowledge that there are issues which need to be addressed.

Paul McIlwaine met with Ian Paisley jnr who has said he wants Paul to meet with David Simpson MP for Paul's area when he is back home. He acknowledged that Paul was treated badly at St Andrews when he was verbally abused by Sammy Wilson MP and Jefferey Donaldson MP when Paul tried to raise his son's case with them. Mr Paisley reckons he would not have handled the situation like that. Well there is no reason whatsoever to doubt Mr Paisley's word. He told Paul that he came into politics because of his passion for the upholding of human rights. His first campaign was on behalf of the UDR 4 and this has never left him.

In the British Embassy Danny Kennedy UUP MLA for South Armagh also told Paul that he believed his treatment by Unionist representatives was wrong and that he wants to meet with Paul when they are all home.

A Process of Acknowledgement is a vital part of transition for families and communities who have endured the worst of our conflict.

That acknowledgement will be for more than just the bare violation of the person's right to life. It will be for everything that accompanied it - the systemic cover-ups, the lies, the propoganda and the denial of the dignity of humanity to those left violated and bereaved.

Very many will have to be part of providing this acknowledgement - the actors to the conflict, the politicians, the governments, state agencies, the churches.

But in Washington we saw how by providing a positive space in which the victims of the conflict are treated with equality and respect, processes of acknowledgement can begin. This is one of the ways that international intervention can be so vitally effective at this stage of our transition.

We hope that this good will can travel to our own shores and that promises made will bear fruit. Both of these public representatives are recognised as being men of integrity in their own right. We look forward to a new engagement with unionist politicans on these issues.