The Good Friday Agreement Document

This file may not be suitable for assistive technology users. Ask for an accessible format. If you are using assistive technologies (p.B a screen reader) and require a version of this document in a more accessible format, please email Comms@nio.gov.uk. Please let us know what format you need. This will help us if you say what assistive technology you are using. 12. The full members of the BIC will continue to monitor the functioning of the Council, including a formal review issued at an appropriate time after the entry into force of the Agreement, and, where appropriate, to contribute to any revision of the general political agreement resulting from the multi-party negotiations. 35. The Assembly meets first for the purpose of an organization without legislative or executive powers, in order to establish its rules of procedure and working practices and to prepare for the proper functioning of the Assembly, the British-Irish Council and the North-South Council of Ministers and related implementing bodies. During this transitional period, the members of the Assembly acting as Shadow Ministers reaffirm their commitment to non-violence and exclusively to peaceful and democratic means and their rejection of any use or threat of violence by others for political purposes; working in good faith to bring the new rules into being born; and to observe the spirit of the promise of office that applies to appointed ministers.

5. The BIC shall exchange, discuss, consult information and make every effort to reach a cooperation agreement on matters of mutual interest falling within the competence of the competent administrations. Appropriate topics for early discussion within the BIC could be transport links, agricultural issues, environmental issues, cultural issues, health issues, education issues and approaches to European issues. Appropriate arrangements for practical cooperation on agreed policies. (iii) To take mutually agreed decisions on the policies to be implemented separately in each territory in the relevant important areas within the competence of the administrations of the North and the South; The agreement provided for the establishment of an independent commission to review the provisions of the police in Northern Ireland “including ways to promote broad community support” for these arrangements. The UK government has also committed to a “wide-ranging review” of the criminal justice system in Northern Ireland. The conference takes the form of regular and frequent meetings between british and Irish ministers to promote cooperation at all levels between the two governments. In cases which have not been transferred to Northern Ireland, the Irish Government may present positions and proposals.

All decisions of the Conference shall be taken by mutual agreement between the two Governments and the two Governments in order to make determined efforts to resolve disagreements between them. The agreement consists of two interrelated documents, both of which were agreed in Belfast on Good Friday, 10 April 1998: taking into account the policing principles set out in the agreement, the Commission will examine the work of the police in Northern Ireland and, on the basis of its findings, make proposals for future police structures and arrangements. including funds to promote broad Community support for these agreements. 4. All decisions shall be taken by mutual agreement between the two Governments. Governments will make determined efforts to resolve disagreements among themselves. There will be no exception to the sovereignty of the two governments. 1.

The Participants note that the development of a peaceful environment on the basis of this Agreement can and should mean the standardization of security arrangements and practices. The agreement reaffirms the commitment to “mutual respect, civil rights and religious freedoms of all members of the community.” The multi-party agreement recognised “the importance of respect, understanding and tolerance with regard to linguistic diversity”, in particular with regard to the Irish language, Ulster Scots and the languages of other ethnic minorities in Northern Ireland, “all of which are part of the cultural richness of the island of Ireland”. 6. Accordingly, in a spirit of harmony, we strongly recommend this Agreement to the peoples of the North and the South. The main issues that Sunningdale omits and which are addressed in the Belfast Agreement are the principle of self-determination, the recognition of both national identities, British-Irish intergovernmental cooperation and legal procedures to make power-sharing compulsory, such as inter-community voting and the D`Hondt system for the appointment of ministers to the executive. [24] [25] Former IRA member and journalist Tommy McKearney says the main difference is the British government`s intention to negotiate a comprehensive deal involving the IRA and the most intransigent trade unionists. [26] With regard to the right to self-determination, two reservations are mentioned by the legal author Austen Morgan. Firstly, the transfer of territory from one State to another must be done through an international agreement between the British and Irish Governments. Secondly, the people of Northern Ireland can no longer achieve a united Ireland alone; they need not only the Irish Government, but also the people of their Irish neighbour to support unity. Morgan also pointed out that, unlike the Ireland Act 1949 and the Northern Ireland Constitution Act 1973, which were drafted under Sunningdale, the 1998 Agreement and the resulting UK legislation expressly provided for the possibility of a united Ireland.

[27] In the context of political violence during the unrest, the agreement committed participants to “exclusively democratic and peaceful means of settling disputes on political issues.” This required two aspects: (ii) to recognise that it is solely for the people of the island of Ireland to exercise, by agreement between the two parties and without external obstacles, their right to self-determination on the basis of free and simultaneous consent, in the North and the South, in order to achieve a united Ireland, if that is their desire to accept this right with and subject to the consent and consent of a majority of the people of Northern Ireland. must be carried out and exercised; 5. We recognise the essential differences between our current and equally legitimate political aspirations. However, we will endeavour, by all practical means, to seek reconciliation and rapprochement within the framework of democratic and agreed agreements. We are committed to working in good faith to ensure the success of each of the steps to be taken under this Agreement. It is recognised that all institutional and constitutional arrangements – an Assembly in Northern Ireland, a North-South Council of Ministers, implementing bodies, a British-Irish Council and a British-Irish Intergovernmental Conference, as well as any amendments to the British Acts of Parliament and the Constitution of Ireland – are interdependent and interdependent and, in particular, that the functioning of the North-South Assembly and Council is so The success of each individual depends on that of the other. 14. Disagreements within the Council shall be dealt with in the format described in paragraph 3(iii) or in plenary.

In agreement between the two parties, experts could be appointed to examine and report on a particular issue. The agreement establishes a framework for the creation and number of institutions in three “parts”. Under that agreement, the British and Irish Governments undertook to hold referendums in Northern Ireland and the Republic on 22 May 1998 respectively. The referendum in Northern Ireland is expected to endorse the agreement reached in the multi-party negotiations. The purpose of the referendum on the Republic of Ireland was to approve the BRITANNICO-Irish Agreement and to facilitate the amendment of the Constitution of Ireland in accordance with the Agreement. (a) perform all official duties in good faith; 4. We reaffirm our full and absolute commitment to exclusively democratic and peaceful means of settling political disputes and our rejection of any use or threat of force by others for political purposes, whether in connection with this Agreement or otherwise. The agreement was reached between the British and Irish governments and eight political parties or groups in Northern Ireland.

Three were representative of unionism: the Ulster Unionist Party, which had led unionism in Ulster since the beginning of the 20th century, and two small parties associated with loyalist paramilitaries, the Progressive Unionist Party (associated with the Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF)) and the Ulster Democratic Party (the political wing of the Ulster Defence Association (UDA)). .