The UK and Irish governments announced on Friday the creation of a new joint framework that hopes to facilitate investigations into all unresolved Troubles-related incidents in Ireland.

The new framework replaces the Northern Ireland Troubles (Legacy and Reconciliation) Act 2023 and establishes a reformed Legacy Commission that will oversee investigations into the unresolved Troubles-related incidents in Ireland. The deal is aimed at resolving the 1998 Good Friday Agreement‘s unrealized goal to acknowledge the suffering of victims and survivors.

Hilary Benn, the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, is hopeful the new framework can provide a “way forward” for families affected by the incidents:

I believe that this framework, underpinned by new co-operation from both our governments, represents the best way forward to finally make progress on the unfinished business of the Good Friday agreement. And I hope that having read what we are proposing, the communities who were most affected by the Troubles will see this as a way forward in which they can have confidence, and will therefore give this plan a fair chance.

The new framework aims to provide legal certainty for veterans who carried out their duties and for the families of victims to have a fair, proportionate, and transparent system to seek answers. It will end the immunity scheme that provides conditional immunity for the Troubles’ offences. The scheme was included in the existing Legacy Act despite criticism from the UK Joint Committee on Human Rights and legal challenges at the Belfast High Court regarding its compatibility with human rights legislation.

Furthermore, the Independent Commission for Reconciliation and Information Recovery will be replaced with the Legacy Commission to focus on investigative operations to provide as much information as possible regarding the circumstances of the case to families. The detailed mechanisms involve the redefinition of “sensitive information” and the revocation of the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland’s power to guide the Legacy Commission about the identification of sensitive information. Similarly, the UK Secretary of State will have a statutory duty to conduct a balancing exercise under the UK Inquiries Act 2005 to decide whether the overall public interest favours a disclosure of sensitive information.

Both governments promise to comply with their obligations under the European Convention on Human Rights as they implement the framework, subject to their relevant parliamentary approval processes.

The Troubles were an ethno-nationalist conflict over the status of Northern Ireland—whether to remain part of the United Kingdom or to seek unification with the Republic of Ireland. The conflict featured bombings, sniper attacks, and street fighting with the British army and local police forces. More than 3000 people were killed, of whom 52% were civilians, and over 40,000 were injured. The conflict persisted for three decades until the Good Friday Agreement established a power-sharing government and cross-border cooperation between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland.