Victims of terror attacks welcome the UN's call for greater recognition, but remain sceptical over compensation terms
If Will Pike had received his injuries in a road accident, he would have been given enough money in compensation to meet his lifetime needs. Instead, as a British tourist caught up in the Mumbai bombings, he returned home, his body broken and his life changed, to find himself ignored. He has been fighting for the help he needs from the British government ever since.
When he launched his campaign, Pike, 31, told the Observer: "When you read about things like this in the paper, when they happen to other people, you assume there is some sort of system in place. You assume these people must be being looked after. But actually what we felt as the days and weeks passed was a sense of despondency, of being let down, of sinking through the system."
A report by drawn up by UN Special Rapporteur Ben Emmerson, details of which have been obtained by the Observer, proposes wide-ranging improvements in the legal treatment of those injured in terrorist attacks around the world, including an automatic right to compensation. But yesterday, Pike's father Nigel was cautious about the news: "The iniquity of Will's and others' situation was that the terrorism occurred abroad and different countries have wildly differing levels of compensation. I'm not sure this report would address that."
There have been ongoing issues for those badly injured by the 7 July 2005 London bombings. Delays in making payments and over-complex application forms have been the focus of victims' anger. Beverli Rhodes, 49, who suffered a brain injury, came close to having to sell her house before she received her final £12,000 settlement last July. Six survivors are still awaiting compensation.
Britain is not alone in failing citizens. It was not until five years after the Madrid train bombings, which killed 192 people in 2004, that compensation began to reach families, and many have still not received it. Pilar Manjón, who lost her 20-year-old son, says there were victims who could not afford to eat properly. "This tragedy has been forgotten by those who should not forget," she said. There was no compensation for those affected by the Oklahoma bombing in 1995, and there are delays with payments to 9/11 families. The US government has said it will not compensate victims in the future.
But for many, it is recognition that's important. "Our impact on terrorism itself is underrated," said Michael Gallagher, father of Aiden, 21, who died in 1998 when a car bomb exploded in Omagh, Northern Ireland, killing 29. He formed the Omagh Support and Self Help Group. "We are the people the terrorists actually fear the most, we're the witnesses after all and the ones at the coalface dealing with the aftermath. They don't want us standing up and making a noise," he said. "I'm delighted to hear about this report, to address that imbalance that is out there between victims and terrorist. It's a distorted world where the terrorist is held up there, and there's no recognition for the victims."
Pamela Dix, Executive Director of Disaster Action, supporting those caught up in terrorism or disaster, began campaigning after her brother Peter died aboard Pan Am flight over Lockerbie in 1988. "If you had suggested 23 years ago that I would still be fighting the government on all fronts for appropriate recognition, trying to get politicians to deliver on promises, I would never have believed it. You don't realise the limitations of the system until you find yourself in that position." She welcomed a recognition of the right to form groups.
Ben Emmerson, who wrote the report, said victims' stories should be at the core of anti-terrorism strategies. "Over the past decade, international human rights law has undergone a crisis of public and political confidence. By making it clear that the law is there to protect the victims, and not just those who are suspected of terrorism, the international community can start to restore those basic principles of human rights law that have taken such a battering," he said.