Webinar: On the 25th Anniversary of the Good Friday Agreement

Webinar: On the 25th Anniversary of the Good Friday Agreement
Why is the Good Friday Agreement still relevant to the left in Europe today? What can we learn from this peace process and the search for compromise in changing circumstances?
In this Webinar organised by transform! europe and the Rosa-Luxemburg-Stiftung, we discuss these and other questions.
25 years ago, the Good Friday Agreement ended the Northern Ireland conflict that had lasted for years - one of the fiercest, bloodiest conflicts between the British and Irish in the North of Ireland. While the overwhelming majority of Protestant Unionists continued to see Northern Ireland as part of Great Britain, the mostly Catholic Nationalists favored unification with the Republic of Ireland. This conflict has cost the lives of more than 3,500 people. After the phase of escalation due to discrimination against the Catholic population by Political unionists, a difficult and repeatedly fragile peace process developed over the years, which finally came to an end in 1998 with the Good Friday Agreement between the Republic of Ireland and the United Kingdom. This agreement included in particular the willingness to disarm the paramilitary units of the (provisional) Irish Republican Army (IRA), the Ulster Defence Association (UDA) as well as the Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF), the release of underground fighters from prisons and a clarification of the fates of the disappeared and victims of the conflict, including the IRA as well as the Northern Ireland police of the British military, the secret services and loyalist paramilitaries.
In addition, the Good Friday Agreement set out a conditional, consensual way of uniting Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland if the majority of people on both sides agreed to this by referendum. The agreement is based on the three principles of partnership, equality, and mutual respect.
However, due to Brexit, the conditions have changed fundamentally, and the agreement seems to be challenged in a new way with the new EU external borders between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland. The compromise now reached on the Northern Ireland Protocol between the British government under Rishi Sunak and the European Union has been acknowledged by pro-protocol parties. The question is, can it be implemented politically? How stable is it and what does a possible unification of Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland mean?
This webinar took place on Thursday, 6 April 2023
18:00-20:00 (CET)
Speakers:
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Martina Anderson, former MEP, Sinn Féin Representative to Europe
Colin Harvey, Professor of Human Rights Law and Director of the Human Rights Centre in the School of Law at Queen’s University Belfast
Heinz Bierbaum, chair of the Rosa Luxemburg Foundation
Seán Byers, Trademark Belfast
Moderation: Katerina Anastasiou
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More info: www.transform-europe.net
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