Helsinki Watch

Compiled: Martin Melaugh ... Additional Material: Brendan Lynn and Fionnuala McKenna Material is added to this site on a regular basis - information on this page may change Harmony Community Trust (HCT) The Harmony Community Trust was established in 1975 by International Voluntary Service (NI) and the Rotary Club of Belfast. The aim was to obtain a venue for groups involved in cross-community contact initiatives. The HCT purchased Glebe House for this purpose. The policy of HCT is to promote and encourage mutual tolerance and understanding amongst people of all ages regardless of any perceived differences. HCT runs many courses, study camps and work camps and works with school groups, young people, and adults. Headquarters Mobile Support Unit (HMSU) The Headquarters Mobile Support Unit (HMSU) was a special unit established in 1978 (?) by the Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) and was intended to be the RUC equivalent of the Special Air Service (SAS). Members of the HMSU were drawn from RUC Special Branch and were trained by the SAS to on how to confront Irish Republican Army (IRA) members with 'firepower, speed and aggression'. The unit worked in collaboration with an RUC intelligence gathering unit called E4A. The HMSU was responsible for several 'shoot-to-kill' incidents in Northern Ireland during November and December 1982. Healing Through Remembering (HTR) Healing Through Remembering is an extensive cross-community project made up of a range of individual members holding different political perspectives. Healing Through Remembering focuses on the issue of how to deal with the past relating to the conflict in and about Northern Ireland. The project arose following a visit in 1999 to Northern Ireland by Dr Alex Boraine, then Deputy Chair of the Truth and Reconciliation Committee (TRC) in South Africa. Helsinki Watch Helsinki Watch is an international human rights body based in the United States of America. The group has written critical reports of both the security policy adopted in Northern Ireland and also the tactics of the various paramilitary groups. Historical Enquiries Team (HET) synonyms: Historical Inquiries Team The Historical Enquiries Team - a unit within the Police Service of Norhern Ireland (PSNI) - was established to re-examine the unresolved deaths related to the conflict in Northern Ireland between 1968 and 1998. Although the HET had been formed in September 2005 it was formally launched by Peter Hain, then Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, on 20 January 2006. David Cox, formerly a commander in the London Metropolitan Police, was the first head of the HET which was comprised of 84 investigators and supporting staff, and had a budget of £30 million. It was anticipated that detectives would reopen the files on 3,268 cases and would attempt to achieve the "best resolution" for victims' families, including possible prosecutions. It was expected that the HET would be in existence for five years. HET reports are given to victims' families who decide what to do with them. In 2008 Professor Patricia Lundy (University of Ulster) raised the issue of the HET's different approach to reviewing cases of killings by the British Army. Her concerns were reject by the PSNI at the time. In 2012 Professor Lundy published a briefing report on the same issue. The matter was referred to Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary (HMIC) which published a report on 3 July 2013 that was critical of the HET's approach. On 4 July 2013 the Northern Ireland Policing Board (NIPB) said it had no confidence in the leadership of the HET. Following the criticism, and restructuring within the PSNI, the HET was wound up in September 2014. It was replaced by a much smaller unit, the Legacy Investigations Branch, working within the PSNI (Source: Belfast Telegraph article ). Holiday Projects West (HPW) An organisation (now no longer in existence) which was set up in March 1972 in Derry with the aim of giving children from the area an hol