This is another difficult week for the Northern peace process. The release of many republican and loyalist prisoners under the terms of the Belfast Agreement is a bitter pill to swallow for the families of those who died in atrocities.

Michelle Williamson, whose pa rents were killed in the Shankill bombing, sought unsuccessfully to halt the early release of one of those convicted of the 1993 attack which left 10 dead, including IRA member Thomas Begley.

Sally McErlean, whose son Thomas was shot dead by loyalist Michael Stone in 1988, was critical of Stone's High Court attempt to gain release ahead of schedule.

"He is rubbing relatives' noses in it. Knowing he will be walking the streets on Monday is bad enough, but fighting over staying in prison three more days is unbelievable," she said last week.

It has been said that the families of victims serve a life sentence with no chance of remission.

The Daily Telegraph and some within the Conservative Party have taken up the theme of outrage at the releases with gusto.

That Michelle Williamson should be outraged is perfectly understandable. That this outrage should translate into disillusionment with the entire peace process is perfectly understandable. There are no comforting words.

There are no comforting words either for Andrew Mackay MP, Conservative spokesman on Northern Ireland and self-appointed expert on "outrage" at prisoner releases.

I know many people who have lost loved ones over the past 30 bloody years who would like to have a word in his outraged ear. They will not be asked for a comment this week, they will simply be left out of the entire debate around prisoner releases.

Jim McCabe from Belfast could tell Mr Mackay a thing or two about loss, injustice and the difficulty of watching "them that did it walking the streets".

His wife, Nora, was killed by a plastic bullet in July 1981. The name of the RUC officer who fired the shot is known. The circumstances of the killing pointed to an illegal use of lethal force.

No arrest. No prosecution. No prisoner release. No surprise. One of those who helped pervert the course of justice in the case rose to a senior position within the RUC.

The son of Derry woman Kathleen Thompson could also tell Mr Mackay a thing or two about losing a mother and never harbouring any illusion that the killer, a British soldier, would emerge from prison to face the TV cameras.

Kathleen Thompson, mother of six children, was shot dead in her back garden by soldiers in November 1971.

There is a long queue of relatives waiting to tell us what it is like to lose a loved one and know that the "killer at the prison gate" scenario is not a dilemma that their family will ever face.

Almost 400 people have died as a result of the direct actions of the British army or RUC - the no-name alphabet killers, as the Committee on the Administration of Justice once quipped. Soldiers A, B, C. . .

Only four convictions for murder resulted, all of British soldiers. The state has utterly failed to uphold the most basic of principles as enshrined in article 7 of the UN Declaration of Human Rights, that all are entitled to equal protection under the law.

The failure to uphold this principle has translated into a failure to investigate and prosecute members of the security forces responsible for wrongdoing.

As a consequence, none of the families referred to above faces the unenviable dilemma of witnessing early releases of those held judicially responsible.

They are not even regarded as worthy of a 10-second soundbite in the prisoner releases versus victims debate. The point will be made that many have committed heinous crimes and escaped justice. Names of perpetrators are whispered in the townlands and the villages.

The Finucane family know the names of those who shot Pat Finucane dead. The authorities have also known the names for well over nine years.

Uncovering the deadly activities of the undercover Force Research Unit and RUC Special Branch at the time would bring some sense of closure to the Finucane family, hence the demand for an inquiry as opposed to a police investigation.

Why bother? Should we not accept the equality of pain that the Belfast Agreement brings with it and lay the past to rest?

After all, aren't those who committed atrocities being released before our very eyes? The RUC Chief Constable unwittingly provided the answer at a conference I attended in Belfast last month.

In response to a challenge that wrongdoing by the security forces had gone unpunished, he suggested that "mistakes" may have been made by those under his command.

Sitting beside me was Jim Mc Cabe, who lost his wife when a plastic bullet was fired at her head from short range in a non-riot situation. This highlights the skewed nature of the debate surrounding victims and perpetrators.

RUC officers were murdered, while those killed by RUC officers were just somehow "mistakes". This is undoubtedly a difficult week for the peace process. Great sensitivity needs to be shown, hopefully more sensitivity than was evident when two soldiers convicted of the murder of Belfast teenager Peter McBride were granted early release.

The two guardsmen were released outside the terms of the Belfast Agreement and immediately allowed to rejoin their regiment despite the murder convictions.

The move was welcomed by the Daily Telegraph and Andrew Mackay MP. Outrage? They don't know the meaning of the word.

Paul O'Connor is projects co-ordinator at the Derry-based Pat Finucane Centre; he may be contacted by e-mail at pfc@www.serve.com