Key negotiators give evidence on original vision of rights in 1998 Belfast/Good Friday Agreement
In the fifth oral evidence session of its inquiry, the House of Lords Northern Ireland Scrutiny Committee will hear from three pivotal figures who helped negotiate the Belfast/Good Friday Agreement. Because the "Rights, Safeguards, and Equality of Opportunity" chapter of the 1998 Agreement forms the foundation of Article 2 of the Protocol/Windsor Framework, the Committee will scrutinise how those original protections translate to a post-Brexit world.
Meeting details
At 10:45am: Oral evidence
Inquiry
Article 2 of the Protocol/Windsor Framework
Emeritus Professor of Women’s Studies, Ulster University; Co-founder of the Northern Ireland Women’s Coalition
Lead negotiator for the Ulster Unionist Party to the multi-party negotiations 1998, regarding human rights and equality
Former deputy First Minister and a negotiator for the SDLP during the multi-party talks leading to the Belfast Agreement
Key issues for discussion include:
- How human rights, equality, and their enforcement were originally conceived and understood during the Belfast/Good Friday Agreement negotiations
- How the Equality Commission for Northern Ireland and the Northern Ireland Human Rights Commission protect and promote equality in Northern Ireland
- How the UK's exit from the EU has affected these rights, and how effectively Article 2 of the Protocol/ Windsor Framework safeguards them
- The wider, long-term implications of the UK Supreme Court's recent ruling in the Dillon case
Next steps
This is the Committee’s final public evidence session before the summer recess. The call for written evidence closes this Thursday at 5pm, and the Committee expects to publish all written evidence it received over the coming weeks, before resuming its oral evidence programme in September.