Victims’ rights campaigners in Northern Ireland have welcomed a new report from the UN special rapporteur on truth, justice, reparation and non-recurrence, Pablo De Grieff.

The UN Human Rights Council has published an advance edited version of the report he produced after visiting the UK last November.

Mark Thompson, director of Relatives For Justice (RFJ), said the report was “excellent” and “comprehensive”.

The report calls for the full implementation of the mechanisms agreed at Stormont House, including the provision by the UK of effective resources enabling them to function correctly.

In the report, Mr De Grieff also addresses the “overuse of national security exemptions to avoid disclosures”, which he cites as “apparently the main concern over which the negotiations on the implementation of the Stormont House Agreement broke down in November 2015”.

He writes: “Asserting the obligation to protect the life of citizens does not override obligations stemming from the right to truth.

“No single right to life trumps other ‘weaker’ rights. The right to truth can be construed as a way to (at least partially) redeem the right to life of those who have been killed by State or non-State actors.

“Instead, the point must be to find ways of satisfying the right to truth for victims and society while acknowledging the complex conditions under which this must be done, which are compounded in Northern Ireland by the widespread reliance on informers.

“When acting in accordance with both national and international obligations, national security may only be served within the limits of the law, and allowing for adequate means of comprehensive redress in cases of breach of obligations.”

The report’s recommendations include: “The use of ‘national security’ as a blanket term should be avoided in order to make transparent past practices that were, retrospectively, illegal under national and international law and of dubious effectiveness in furthering security.

“The Special Rapporteur encourages the Government to work with academic and non-governmental experts to devise an approach that makes disclosure practices human rights and constitutionally compliant.”