The above derided Home Office tweet and other official Brexit communications overlook the part of the Good Friday Agreement (GFA) where the UK recognises the birthright of those born in Northern Ireland to be accepted as Irish and hold Irish citizenship. Given this recognition it is hardly compatible with the GFA to casually imply […]
Tag: Good Friday Agreement
BREXIT – Sleepwalking into second class EU citizenship? Guest post by Daniel Holder, CAJ
Despite earlier commitments, recent UK and EU statements now point to Northern Ireland (NI)-resident Irish passport holders being stripped of access to almost all active EU rights following BREXIT. Should a recent EU Commission response to a question by Martina Anderson MEP stand it would leave NI resident citizens with only the same ‘dormant’ EU […]
The Agreement at 20 Guest Post by Kevin Hanratty
(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 […]
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 […]
15 YEARS AFTER REFERENDUM, UK GOV URGED TO DELIVER BILL OF RIGHTS
Fifteen years ago today people in Northern Ireland took to the polls to vote in the Good Friday Agreement referendum. From an exceptionally high voter turn-out of 81.1% a resounding 71.1% voted in favour of the Agreement, with all of its provisions. The Agreement was firmly anchored in human rights and equality and a key […]
Still Waiting for a Bill of Rights for Northern Ireland
Fourteen years after the Good Friday/Belfast Agreement set in place the groundwork for a future Bill of Rights, the people of Northern Ireland continue to wait. Yesterday, Professor Colin Harvey, as part of a UU Transitional Justice Institute panel discussion on the Bill of Rights debate, likened the situation to Beckett’s Waiting for Godot. Certainly […]