Measures to Combat Terrorism (Part II)

The security forces in Northern Ireland are subject to the law and can be prosecuted for criminal offences. An independent commission deals with complaints made against police officers.

The Criminal Jurisdiction Act 1975 makes it possible to try in North­ern Ireland a person accused of certain offences committed in the Irish Republic. It also enables evidence to be obtained in Northern Ireland for the trial of offences in the Irish Republic. Reciprocal legislation is in force in the Irish Republic. One of the aims of the Anglo-Irish Agree­ment signed in November 1985 is to improve security co-operation in combating terrorism. The accession of the Irish Government to the Eu­ropean Convention on the Suppression of Terrorism in 1986 is expected to increase the prospects of securing extradition from the Republic of people accused or convicted of terrorist crimes in Britain.

Britain attaches importance to international action to combat terror­ism and plays an active part in the work of a group of European Commu­nity ministers (known as “Trevi”) which facilitates the confidential ex­change of information and intelligence about terrorism affecting member countries. Britain believes that there should be no concessions to terrorist demands and that international co-operation should take place on track­ing down and arresting terrorists and on impeding the movement of inter­national terrorists from one country to another.