{"id":156669,"date":"2025-09-24T02:05:10","date_gmt":"2025-09-24T02:05:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/156669\/"},"modified":"2025-09-24T02:05:10","modified_gmt":"2025-09-24T02:05:10","slug":"appointment-of-paramilitary-interlocutor-slammed-by-long","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/156669\/","title":{"rendered":"Appointment of paramilitary \u2018interlocutor\u2019 slammed by Long"},"content":{"rendered":"

Northern Ireland Secretary Hilary Benn has announced that Fleur Ravensbergen will take up the role of Independent Expert on paramilitary group transition to disbandment.<\/p>\n

Ms Ravensbergen is a conflict resolution and negotiation practitioner and a lecturer in conflict resolution and governance at the University of Amsterdam.<\/p>\n

The appointment has been made jointly with Jim O\u2019Callaghan, the Irish Minister for Justice, Home Affairs and Migration.<\/p>\n

\"Northern<\/p>\n

Northern Ireland Secretary Hilary Benn said it was right to see if more could be done to end paramilitarism (Liam McBurney\/PA)<\/p>\n

Making the announcement, Northern Ireland Secretary Hilary Benn said it was right that the governments \u201ctest whether there is more that can be done to end paramilitarism\u201d.<\/p>\n

The two governments committed to making the appointment earlier this year following a recommendation from the Independent Reporting Commission (IRC) that a \u201ctwin track\u201d process of law enforcement and tackling the roots of paramilitarism is needed.<\/p>\n

Mr Benn said: \u201cThe Government is committed to working with partners in Northern Ireland to support efforts against the enduring threats and harms posed to communities by paramilitary groups.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere is no justification for paramilitary groups and they should have left the stage long ago.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut they haven\u2019t. It\u2019s therefore right that we test whether there is more that can be done to end paramilitarism.\u201d<\/p>\n

He added: \u201cThis appointment follows the commitment made by the UK Government and the Government of Ireland to commission a short scoping and engagement exercise to assess whether there is merit in, and support for, a formal process of engagement to bring about paramilitary group transition to disbandment.\u201d<\/p>\n

But Alliance Party leader Ms Long said paramilitary groups should already have disbanded.<\/p>\n

She said: \u201cGovernments engaging directly with illegal organisations risks providing a veneer of legitimacy to paramilitary groups and criminal gangs, which persist based on a combination of threats, intimidation, and organised crime.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe appointment of an interlocutor risks undermining the good work which is already being done to end paramilitarism and organised crime.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe idea that paramilitary groups can transition into law-abiding entities has long since moved beyond the point of credibility.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey cannot continue to be treated as if they are genuinely committed to reform \u2013 that moment passed long ago.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Fleur<\/p>\n

Fleur Ravenbergen and Naomi Long.<\/p>\n

News Catch Up – Tuesday 23rd September <\/p>\n

She added: \u201cWhilst we all want to see paramilitarism ended and those currently engaged in it to desist, I cannot understand what the impediment is to them doing so now, if they are genuinely keen to do so.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere can be no negotiation or sweeteners involved, so it is difficult to see what purpose an interlocutor will serve, but easy to see how it could give these groups a credibility which they don\u2019t deserve.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ms Ravensbergen will take up the role within the existing IRC and is expected to complete the scoping and engagement exercise and submit a report by August 2026.<\/p>\n

The appointment will be for a period of one year.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Northern Ireland Secretary Hilary Benn has announced that Fleur Ravensbergen will take up the role of Independent Expert…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":156670,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[59,57,58,68092,71640,50,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-156669","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-united-kingdom","tag-gb","tag-great-britain","tag-greatbritain","tag-hilary-benn","tag-naomi-long","tag-news","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/156669","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=156669"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/156669\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/156670"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=156669"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=156669"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=156669"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}