25th Anniversary Of The Good Friday Agreement

US President Joe Biden is visiting Belfast, the capital of Northern Ireland, to mark the 25th anniversary of the Good Friday Agreement.

Key Points Of Good Friday Agreement

• The Good Friday Agreement was signed on April 10, 1998, between factions of Northern Ireland, and the governments of Britain and Ireland
• It was signed to end decades of violence in Northern Ireland among those who wished to remain with the United Kingdom (UK) and those who wanted to join Ireland.
• The negotiators included then British Prime Minister Tony Blair, then Irish Prime Minister Bertie Ahern, George Mitchell, a former Democratic senator who acted as the envoy of then US President Bill Clinton, and eight parties from Northern Ireland.
• The Agreement ended 30 years of the violence known as ‘The Troubles’, fetched a joint Nobel peace prize

Terms of the Good Friday Agreement

• Northern Ireland would remain part of the UK, but could join Ireland if, in a referendum, a majority of people on both sides voted for it.
• People born in Northern Ireland could have Irish or British nationality or both.
• Weapons by paramilitary groups would have to be decommissioned, but people in jail for violence so far would be released.
• Northern Ireland would get a new government, where both the nationalists and unionists would be represented.
• This devolved government would sit at Stormont and have powers over most local matters, while the UK government would look after security, foreign policy, tax laws, immigration rules, etc.
• On May 22, 1998, a referendum was held in Ireland and Northern Ireland, and the agreement was approved by 94 per cent of voters in Ireland and 71 per cent in Northern Ireland.

Background Of Good Friday Agreement

Current Status Of Good Friday Agreement

• The most important achievement of the Agreement has been an end to bloodshed and enduring peace in the region.
• However, Brexit has created an obstacle paralysing the agreement for more than a year.
• This is because Northern Ireland shares a land border with an EU country – Ireland. As the EU and the UK have different product standards, checks would be necessary for sending goods from Northern Ireland to Ireland.
• Britain’s intelligence agency (MI5), recently increased the threat level in Northern Ireland from domestic terrorism to “severe”.
• Several pro-Union political parties in N. Ireland (like the DUP) started boycotting the agreement.
• Checks would be conducted between Great Britain and Northern Ireland.
• The UK and the EU reached an agreement known as the Windsor Framework – which seeks to address the aforementioned disruptions to trade between Northern Ireland and the rest of the U.K.

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