Ireland has taken legal action against the United Kingdom in Europe's top rights court over a law granting immunity to combatants in the Northern Ireland conflict, the court said Friday.
Ireland lodged an application with the European Court of Human Rights over the 2023 law on Wednesday, arguing that some of its provisions are "not compatible with the European Convention" of Human Rights, it said.
The contentious legislation, passed by the UK parliament in September, creates a truth and recovery commission offering amnesty to British security personnel and paramilitaries if they cooperate with its enquiries.
It has been condemned by families of those who died during three decades of violence over British rule in Northern Ireland from the late 1960s, known as the Troubles, which saw more than 3,500 people killed.
All Northern Irish political parties and the Irish government in Dublin oppose the legislation, while Europe's leading rights watchdog, the Council of Europe, has also expressed "serious concerns".
But the law, formally called the UK Northern Ireland Troubles (Legacy and Reconciliation) Act 2023, has been welcomed by groups representing British veterans from the period.
The ECHR rules on potential violations of the European Convention on Human Rights, which has been ratified by 46 countries including the United Kingdom and Ireland.
The court has ruled in one previous case opposing both states, finding in 1978 that the United Kingdom's handling of detainees in Northern Ireland amounted to "inhuman and degrading treatment".