The establishment of a video archive for victims of the Troubles was proposed at this weekend's SDLP conference in Belfast. The "living monument" would allow people to articulate their opinions, feelings and suffering.
Presenting the party's policy document on victims, the SDLP Assembly member, Mr Alban Maginness, said the archive, where people could deliver their testimony to a camera or tape recorder, would be "a permanent platform for victims greater than any statue or amount of money".
During Saturday's opening debate on human rights, party delegates also advocated the creation of a junior ministerial position for victims, a victims ombudsman and a register for victims.
The party's Assembly member for West Belfast, Mr Alex Attwood, introduced a motion stressing the importance of adequate funding for the new Equality Commission, which was set up under the Belfast Agreement.
He said it was imperative that all issues of human rights were dealt with by the body in order "to undo all the issues of inequality at the core of our conflict for the last 30 years".
Ms Brid Rodgers, the Assembly member for Upper Bann, said delegates had "a special place in their hearts for this part of the agenda" as the party had been at the forefront of campaigning for social justice and human rights over three decades.
She highlighted her view that a review would be necessary to address the under-representation of women and Catholics in the civil service, particularly at management level.
Speaking on a motion which criticised the absence of a ministry for children in the 10 departments of a new Northern administration, Mr Sean Farren, the SDLP senior negotiator, said delegates should not be misled into thinking the needs of children would be neglected.
The division of education into two separate departments would allow for children's issues to be "adequately, effectively and efficiently" addressed, he added.
Dr Joe Hendron, the Assembly member for west Belfast, reaffirmed the party's belief in the right to life and its support for the unborn child.
On health services, Dr Hendron said it was a critical time for the hospitals and spoke in support of the motion for an urgent review of the British government's acute hospital strategy.
Mr Vincent Currie, a party councillor, said the North would not have a proper health service until local politicians managed it.
"The message should go out loud and clear to Sinn Fein and the Ulster Unionists: `Get your act together and get the executive up and running and give us a proper health service,"' he said.
Opening the debate on social development, the party's chief whip, Mr Eddie McGrady, said this area was also suffering from the current political stalemate.
"God help the Assembly when it is presented by the backlog of unpalatable decisions that need to be made," he added.
Mr Eamonn O'Neill, the Assembly member for South Down, also highlighted the rising numbers suffering from fuel poverty, which he defined as people who sacrifice heat for other necessities. He proposed a cost-of-heat index and a thermal allowance for people shown by the index to be in need of help and support.
In a debate on the environment, Mr McGrady proposed a motion that highlighted the party's fears in relation to plans for regional development put forward by the North's Department of the Environment.
He said the British government's proposals offered "no levelling of the playing field" but rather the creation of a "new Pale" around Belfast Lough and called on the party to make a submission to the department in the coming weeks to express its concern.
The Assembly member for West Tyrone, Mr Joe Byrne, said he was worried that towns such as Magherafelt, Co Derry, Strabane, Co Tyrone, and Downpatrick, Co Down, and other rural areas, would become isolated.
During a debate on arts and culture, a party delegate, Ms Joanne Murphy, demanded that RTE, currently not a standard television station in the North, be made more widely available.
Concluding the debates, Ms Carmel Hanna, the SDLP Assembly member for South Belfast, spoke on international affairs by endorsing the cancellation of Third World debts.
She stressed how helpful international funding had been to Northern Ireland during the Troubles. "We know how vital that money has been to us, but now it is payback time," she said.