Daily
Dispatch 4 May 2007
MAGINNESS:
UVF PROVES NEED FOR CONTROL ON RESTORATIVE JUSTICE SCHEMES
Welcoming the announcement of the UVF’s stand down, SDLP’s
North Belfast MLA Alban Maginness said it exposes the shortcomings
in the recently published government guidelines for funding restorative
justice schemes.
He said: “The UVF statement has recommended all its members
to participate in ‘credible restorative justice groups’
- this is exactly why we need independent oversight of such schemes.
The UVF haven’t even decommissioned, yet they are urging
their members to be actively involved in sensitive restorative
justice work.”
“It is precisely because restorative justice really could
be something of great value in our society that we must get it
right now. Letting ex-paramilitaries maintain control over their
community through the alternative of CRJ would be a disaster.
“If the UVF is to become involved in the restorative justice
process, despite not decommissioning its weaponry, then at very
least, people deserve very strict oversight and a credible complaints
mechanism. The recent guidelines issued by the Government do not
provide that necessary oversight, nor a credible complaints system.
The Government needs to look at all this again.”
