The families of Bloody Sunday victims are soon to be nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize, thanks to SDLP leader Colum Eastwood.

The politician has said it would be a fitting tribute for the families' "long fight for truth and justice", according to RTÉ.

Today marks the 51st anniversary of the killings by the British Army in Derry on 30 January 1972, when 13 people were shot dead when soldiers of the Parachute Regiment opened fire following a civil rights march in the city.

Fifteen others were injured, and nearly half of the dead were children. A 14th person died months later as a result of his injuries.

John "Jackie" Duddy (17), Michael Kelly (17), Hugh Gilmour (17), 19-year-old William Nash, John Young (17), 20-year-old Michael McDaid, Kevin McElhinney (17), James "Jim" Wray (22), 26-year-old William McKinney, Gerard "Gerry" McKinney (35), Gerard "Gerry" Donaghy (17), 31-year-old Patrick Doherty, Bernard "Barney" McGuigan (41) and 59-year-old John Johnston were the victims.

51 years ago, Britain murdered 14 innocent men in Derry. Bloody Sunday will become a tombstone for British policy in Ireland. RIP pic.twitter.com/BUZ6DK4XTC

— Francie Molloy MP (@FrancieMolloy) January 29, 2023

An immediate inquiry, led by then-lord chief justice Lord Widgery, was labelled a whitewash after it largely cleared the soldiers of blame. The soldiers were found to have planted nail bombs on some victims.

After years of campaigning by victims' families, then-prime minister Tony Blair ordered a new inquiry in 1998.

The Saville Inquiry concluded in 2010 that none of the casualties were posing a threat or carrying out behaviour that would justify their shooting. David Cameron, who was Prime Minister in the UK at the time, apologised in the House of Commons, saying that the killings were "unjustified and unjustifiable".

Colum Eastwood said yesterday that he could think of no better tribute to the relatives of those who had suffered that day. They had gained respect and admiration from around the world for the stance they had taken.

"They have faced down the might of the British establishment who tried to cover up the events of that dreadful day, blackening their loved one's names in the process," he noted. "But they never stopped fighting for what was right and remain an inspiration to oppressed people everywhere," he said.

The world knows what happened on the streets of Derry on January 30, 1972.

14 people, 6 of them children, went out to demonstrate their strong & peaceful opposition to the discrimination visited upon our communities by a state steeped in sectarianism, and they didn’t come home. pic.twitter.com/URcHV0foSb

— Colum Eastwood 🇺🇦 (@columeastwood) January 30, 2023

Every year a programme of events is run to mark the anniversary of the killings. Members of national assemblies are among those entitled to make a nomination.

The deadline for receipt of nominations is the end of January every year, before a shortlist is produced in March normally containing 20-30 candidates and assessment begins.

The winner is announced in October, with the prize awarded in December. Were it would be awarded to the Bloody Sunday families, it would mark the second time that the Nobel Peace Prize has been presented to those in Derry.

In 1998 Derry native and SDLP leader John Hume was awarded the prize along with UUP leader David Trimble for their work in delivering the Good Friday Agreement.

This is what Bloody Sunday is all about. 13 coffins side by side in St Mary's Church. The murderous work of the British parachute regiment. My mother in total distress. She never got over her beloved son Michael's death. Rest in Peace mum. Justice will prevail. pic.twitter.com/8xEJZT1p4F

— JJKELLY (@JohnKelly1948) January 29, 2023