ABSTRACT
The chapter investigates the provision of support initiatives that address victim's needs in Northern Ireland (NI) and in the United Kingdom (UK) more generally, twenty in-depth semi-structured interviews were conducted with victims and victim groups representatives in Northern Ireland. There is a general consensus among all respondents that victim's needs are multi-faceted, complex and difficult to generalise to all members of the victim category. Relatedly, victim's needs are constructed as variable, flexible, dynamic, so that in order to address these needs, service involvement must also be fluid and open to change. All respondents spoke of victims needs evolving over time and generally in conjunction with the evolution and development of the services. Then both sets of participants highlighted their role as a conduit to voice the needs of victims of political violence in Northern Ireland. All respondents discussed their role as an advocate for the rights of victims of political conflict in Northern Ireland.
