Victim-Driven and Community-Led Truth Recovery in Northern Ireland: Agency, Resistance, and Alternative Approaches to Uncovering Truth

Over a quarter of a century after the signing of the Belfast/Good Friday Agreement, which brought some semblance of peace to Northern Ireland, an overarching transitional justice arrangement remains elusive. Given the lack of accountability for state violence during the conflict, and in the absence of a formal truth commission in the transitional and post-conflict phase, a plethora of ‘bottom-up’ truth recovery efforts have been made, often led by victims and survivors of the conflict and/or conflict-affected communities. While recent developments in relation to a Legacy Commission potentially provide some hope for victims and survivors of the conflict, much truth-telling and memorialisation activity has happened outside of, despite, or as a challenge to, the boundaries of state-led mechanisms. In this presentation we will provide an overview of these unofficial initiatives and consider their value as demonstrating agency, resistance, and the diverse methods used in the pursuit of truth. Through this paper we hope to develop a richer understanding of what can be achieved outside of formal channels when transitional justice is driven by – rather than centred on - those impacted by conflict.