Ulster Unionist MLA Tom Elliott has welcomed the Lord Eames' comments that he believes the statutory definition of a victim needs to be changed in order to distinguish between those who were engaged in lawful activity and those who were engaged in unlawful activity.
Mr Elliott said;
“I very much welcome Lord Eames' comments in the Church of Ireland Gazette in which he indicated that he wants to see the definition of a victim changed to draw a distinction between lawful activity and unlawful acts.
“The Ulster Unionist Party has long believed that the current definition of a victim, contained in the existing Victims and Survivors (Northern Ireland) Order 2006 is totally unsatisfactory.
“It defines a victim and survivor as “someone injured as a result of a conflict related incident, someone who provides a substantial amount of care on a regular basis for such an individual, or someone bereaved as a result of such an incident.”
“This obviously does not distinguish between those who were injured by the actions of others and the perpetrators of those actions and at its worst, facilitates some kind of moral equivalence between terrorists and members of the lawful security forces.”