Promoting Justice /
Protecting Rights

Accountable Policing and Justice

At its broadest, the concept of contemporary accountability refers to the “guarantees of non-recurrence” of major human rights violations established following a conflict. It involves many areas of society but with the common aim of establishing a fair and just system in which all people can have trust and confidence.

In a narrower sense, the concept refers to the laws, mechanisms and institutions which govern and hold to account the actions of the state, especially those elements entrusted with coercive powers. The goal of transitional justice, the term used in regions overcoming a past of violent conflict and building a new polity, is a society based on human rights and the rule of law. Progress towards that goal is essential if peace is to be based on confidence by all people in the institutions of state. Arguably, such progress is even more essential in a situation like ours where people with different national aspirations and even allegiances must share the same political and geographical space. One of the keys to contemporary accountability is policing and Justice.

Latest press releases and publications

Just News July 2021
01
Jul

Just News July 2021

01/07/2021,
Inside this issue: We examine the rights implications of vaccine passports and the government’s plans to alter the law on judicial review. Also, we cover the outcome of the Ballymurphy Inquest, which found the victims of the Ballymurphy Massacre to be entirely innocent. Other articles examine additional human rights issues, such as (the lack of)...
14
Jun

‘Hooded Men’ appeal to be heard in the UK Supreme Court

14/06/2021,
From 14 to 16 June 2021, the UK Supreme Court will hear an appeal from Northern Ireland in relation to the treatment of the ‘Hooded Men’.  The case is being taken by Mary McKenna, daughter of one of the Hooded Men, Sean McKenna. Mr McKenna, after release from internment, spent the rest of his life...
20
May

Response to the PSNI consultation and EQIA on the temporary use of spit and bite guards

20/05/2021,
A Spit and Bite Guard (SBG) is a controversial mesh hood, used to prevent a person from spitting on or biting police officers or staff. SBG were introduced by the PSNI, without consultation, last year as a temporary measure for the duration of the Coronavirus pandemic. The use of SBGs constitutes a use of force....
12
May

Statement on Ballymurphy inquest findings

12/05/2021,
CAJ welcomes the inquest verdicts and findings into the deaths of ten people killed at Ballymurphy between 9 and 11 August 1971. We pay tribute to the families and their supporters who have battled courageously over five decades in their pursuit of truth and justice for their loved ones. The findings of Coroner Mrs Justice...
01
Apr

Submission to the Committee of Ministers in relation to the supervision of the cases concerning the action of the security forces in Northern Ireland (February 2021)

01/04/2021,
CAJ regularly makes submissions the Committee of Ministers on the ‘McKerr group of cases’ concerning the actions of the security forces in the 1980s and 1990s in Northern Ireland. Our recent submissions have charted the unilateral abandonment by the UK of commitments to implement the legacy mechanisms contained within the Stormont House Agreement (SHA), and...
03
Mar

Chief Constable criticised for spit hoods roll-out in defiance of Policing Board

03/03/2021,
Amnesty International, CAJ, Children’s Law Centre, and Include Youth have criticised a decision by the Chief Constable of the Police Service Northern Ireland (PSNI) to give spit hoods to 4,000 more officers in defiance of the Policing Board and in light of the possible increased risk of Covid-19 infection to both police and members of...
02
Feb

Model Bill Team submission to the Special Rapporteur on the Promotion of Truth, Justice, Reparation and Guarantees of Non-Recurrence

02/02/2021,
The UN Special Rapporteur on the Promotion of Truth, Justice Reparations and Guarantees of Non-Recurrence is drafting a follow-up report to examine to what extent the UK has implemented recommendations made based on an official visit to the country in 2016. Civil society groups and national human rights institutions have been given an opportunity to...
16
Dec

MI6 unilaterally assumed power to break law on UK soil, tribunal reveals

16/12/2020,
At the Investigatory Powers Tribunal today, it was revealed that MI6 may have unilaterally assumed the power to authorise agents to commit crimes in the UK  – potentially without any legal basis or limits on the crimes they can commit. Reprieve, the Pat Finucane Centre, Privacy International, and CAJ have been challenging a secret policy...
Cover of the 2020 annual report
11
Dec

CAJ Annual Report 2020

11/12/2020, ,
Since our last Annual Report, the world has changed. A pandemic grips the planet, with over 68 million cases of Covid-19 infection and over one and a half million deaths caused by the virus. This is the most significant change on a global level and there are many consequences for human rights, negative and positive....
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