(This personal reflection is a cross posted article from the Irish News and The Human Rights Consortium) 20 years ago today I sat with friends in our student accommodation in Belfast and watched as politicians emerged to announce the new peace deal that was the Good Friday Agreement. We were all students at Queens, had grown up in the […]
Category: Bill of Rights
The Return of the Bill of Rights? Guest Post by Professor Colin Harvey and Dr Anne Smith
The Northern Ireland Bill of Rights appears to have made a comeback. A process that involved much collective effort seemed to have ended in the vague language of paragraph 69 of the Stormont House Agreement (SHA). With no one prepared to take responsibility for its advancement, hope had faded; like much else relating to rights […]
The Good Friday Agreement at 20 Event Invitation - 10 April 2018
To Register for the event and details of the upcoming seminars please go to the eventbrite page HERE This year marks the 20th Anniversary of the Good Friday Agreement. As we reach this milestone, we believe that it is time to not only celebrate the achievement of the Agreement and the role that civic […]
CAJ Initial comments on draft Withdrawal Agreement protocol on Ireland/Northern Ireland Guest Post by Brian Gormally, CAJ
Synopsis of the Contents The Protocol begins with a lengthy preamble dealing with the context which has led to it. The vital points are: The GFA must be protected “in all its parts” The commitment of the UK to protect North-South cooperation and the guarantee to avoid a hard border are “overarching requirements” and any […]
Brexit and the Leaked Full Draft Agreement Text Guest post by Dr Amanda Kramer
This Blog piece is cross posted from BrexitLawNI The leaked Full ‘Draft Agreement Text’ was published on Eamonn Mallie’s website on 20 February 2018 and can be found here. It passed from DUP to Sinn Fein on 9 February 2018 – just five days before the talks collapsed and Arlene Foster asked the Secretary of […]
Implementing the ‘Petition of Concern’ – A CAJ Briefing Paper Jan 2018 Guest Post by Daniel Holder, CAJ
Background The Petition of Concern mechanism has never been implemented as the Good Friday Agreement (GFA) and Northern Ireland Act (NIA) intend or require. This largely due to the way the Standing Orders of the Assembly have been drafted and applied; The Petition of Concern is linked to safeguards in the GFA relating to equality […]
Rights at Risk: mapping the human rights concerns of Brexit in Northern Ireland Guest Post by Dr Claire McCann
The human rights and equality safeguards in Northern Ireland which support our peace agreement are built on a complex web of interlocking legal frameworks. Local, national, European and international law all have an important role to play in providing the groundwork upon which the constitutional settlement for Northern Ireland is founded. Brexit risks destabilising the […]
Brexit, the Withdrawal Agreement, and a Bill of Rights for Northern Ireland Guest post by Dr Amanda Kramer, BrexitLawNI
Concerns surrounding the impact of Brexit on human rights and Northern Ireland have featured prominently in ongoing Brexit debates, media coverage of Brexit, and the Brexit negotiations themselves. It is well known that NI is the region of the UK most likely to be negatively affected by leaving the EU – with potential consequences for […]
Voting Rights and Irish Presidential Elections: Time for Constitutional Change
We are delighted to welcome this guest post from Prof Colin Harvey (QUB School of Law) and Mark Bassett (Barrister). They can be reached at charvey@qub.ac.uk. Introduction This is an edited version of the Opening Statement delivered by Colin Harvey and Mark Bassett to the Joint Oireachtas Committee on the Implementation of the Good Friday […]
The Border, racial profiling and Irish citizens post BREXIT
An issue which has been aired in the run up to and aftermath of the referendum has been the fate of land border on the island of Ireland. At a level of political rhetoric the position of the Leave campaign was somewhat confusing, majoring on a platform of ‘taking back control’ of UK borders whilst […]
Manifesto Watch: 2016 NI Assembly Election
We are pleased to welcome this guest post from Jason McKeown, Communications Assistant with the Human Rights Consortium. With the 2016 Assembly Elections almost upon us, the Human Rights Consortium takes a look at the manifestos of the various political parties who have put themselves forward for election. This resource will […]
‘The Impact of the Human Rights Act in Northern Ireland’, Conference Overview
The threat to the Human Rights Act rumbles on, albeit, in muted tones compared to the fanfare of the Conservatives 2014 proposals and now juxtaposed by Michael Gove, Lord Chancellor and Secretary of State for Justice’s tepid responses to the House of Lords EU Justice Sub-Committee earlier this week, in relation to their inquiry on […]