Agreement Reached in the Multi-Party Negotiations - Transitional ...

More documents

Recommendations

Info

10. CONCLUSION The overriding concern of the Good Friday Agreement was the sectarian power relationship between Nationalists and Unionists; women had to create a space within that. Human rights and equality provisions in the Agreement offered the possibility of improvement in women’s role in society. In the transitional phase ushered in by the Agreement, sectarian politics have continued to dominate. A suspended Assembly, talk of renegotiating the Agreement, power-sharing, decommissioning, criminality – these issues remain centre stage. Provisions that specifically mention women, such as increased participation in the political process, have not significantly progressed. Issues arising from the past such as truth-telling, compensation, impunity, treatment of victims, and prisoners, all relevant to women in particular ways, are being tackled with varying degrees of success. The implementation of other parts of the Agreement that impacted on women, especially with regard to equality and human rights, has been slow and piecemeal. The approach to women’s issues across a number of areas suggests that not only are the right answers not being put forward to deal with systemic discrimination and patriarchal constructs, the right questions are not even being asked. The new Northern Ireland Human Rights Commission has been beset with problems and has not managed to get a Bill of Rights on the statute book. The Equality Commission has sought to widen the scope for tackling inequality but the vehicle for doing so, the Single Equality Act, has not yet been passed. Both organisations raise questions such as how women’s rights should be advanced, gender mainstreaming or special provision, and whether women’s equality is best promoted through a wide equality agenda that includes a number of groups. Does a broad understanding of equality preclude tailor-made provisions for each group? Reviews of criminal justice and policing, as mandated by the Agreement, have been carried out. Again, reform has been aimed primarily at ensuring Nationalist representation, underlining the difference of approach in dealing with sectarian and with gender inequality, one example being the recruitment process for police officers. Measures dealing with sectarian inequality are more robust; for women, change will happen incrementally and over time. The potential in the Agreement for community participation has not been fully realised, as for example with the Criminal Justice Review. Similarly, the Criminal Justice Review dealt with criminal justice and not social justice, an area of concern to disadvantaged women. The slow delivery of social and economic rights has also impacted on this group. 73
REFERENCES Bell, C. (2003) PEACE AGREEMENTS AND HUMAN RIGHTS (London: Oxford University Press) ____ (1998) Women, Equality and Political Participation in Dis/Agreeing Ireland: Contexts, Obstacles, Hopes (eds. James Anderson & James Goodman) Pluto Press, London ____ (2003) ‘Dealing With the Past in Northern Ireland’ Fordham International Law Journal, Vol. 26, No. 4, April 2003 Bloomfield, K. (1997) We Will Remember Them: Report of the Northern Ireland Victims Commissioner (Belfast: Northern Ireland Office) Clio Evaluation Consortium (2002) Evaluation of the Core Funding Programme for Victims’/Survivors Groups (Belfast: Clio Evaluation Consortium) Coiste Na N-Iarchimí (2004) Response to Single Equality Bill Consultation (Belfast: Coiste Na N-Iarchimí) ____ (2004) Annual Report 2003-2004 (Belfast: Coiste Na Niarchimí) Committee on the Administration of Justice (1998) Submission To The Criminal Justice Review (Belfast: CAJ) ____ (1998) Submission by the Committee on the Administration Of Justice To The Commission On Policing For Northern Ireland (Belfast: CAJ) ____ (1999) Commentary on the Recommendations in the Patten Report, ‘A New Beginning: Policing In Northern Ireland’ (Belfast: CAJ) ____ (1999) The Patten Commission: The Way Forward For Policing In Northern Ireland? (Belfast: CAJ) ____ (2000) Response to the Report of the Criminal Justice Review (Belfast: CAJ) ____ (2001) Policing and Public Order in Northern Ireland 1996 – 2000, Some Reflections (Belfast: CAJ) ____ (2002) Submission to the Northern Ireland Human Rights Commission On ‘Making A Bill Of Rights for Northern Ireland’ (Belfast: CAJ) ____ (2003) Commentary on the Policing Board (Belfast: CAJ) ____ (2003) Comment on Reform of the Law and Rehabilitation of Offenders (Belfast: CAJ) ____ (2004) CAJ Annual Report 2003-2004 (Belfast: CAJ) 74
Page 1 and 2:
Women and the Implementation of the
Page 3 and 4:
5.5 Women Victims Post the Good Fri
Page 5 and 6:
Women’s Rights in Transitioning a
Page 7 and 8:
language of the Agreement) this was
Page 9 and 10:
An overall assessment of the succes
Page 11 and 12:
1. RESEARCH 1.1 Sources Primary doc
Page 13 and 14:
2. MAIN FINDINGS The main findings
Page 15 and 16:
3. THE GOOD FRIDAY AGREEMENT In 199
Page 17 and 18:
ecent history of communal conflict
Page 19 and 20:
4. PARTICIPATION OF WOMEN IN PUBLIC
Page 21 and 22:
Ad Hoc Committee - Life Sentences (
Page 23 and 24:
4.7.2 Northern Ireland Office Publi
Page 25 and 26:
5. DEALING WITH THE PAST 5.1 The Go
Page 27 and 28:
failure of the report by Victims Co
Page 29 and 30:
• Have resources been put into im
Page 31 and 32: Northern Ireland Act 1998 67 and wi
Page 33 and 34: and domestic violence are included
Page 35 and 36: particular circumstances in Norther
Page 37 and 38: 5.14 Prisoners and the Bill of Righ
Page 39 and 40: symbols of the past (including rena
Page 41 and 42: 75. - (1) A public authority shall
Page 43 and 44: With regard to the economy wide gen
Page 45 and 46: additional grounds, and what about
Page 47 and 48: The Commission is concerned that th
Page 49 and 50: 7. NORTHERN IRELAND HUMAN RIGHTS CO
Page 51 and 52: Essentially, seven years after the
Page 53 and 54: Group on Equality both indicated st
Page 55 and 56: explain that the paragraph ‘is in
Page 57 and 58: equality clause purports to deal wi
Page 59 and 60: 8.3 Equity Monitoring 200 There are
Page 61 and 62: • Females are more likely than ma
Page 63 and 64: ecommended 228 a ‘programme of ac
Page 65 and 66: conferencing system for juveniles.
Page 67 and 68: Gender is ‘piggy-backing’ on th
Page 69 and 70: The Independent Commission of Polic
Page 71 and 72: oadly reflective of the population
Page 73 and 74: linked to women with caring respons
Page 75 and 76: competitions for police officers (u
Page 77 and 78: 9.8.7 PSNI and Equity Monitoring ov
Page 79 and 80: 9.11.4 Other Policing Challenges De
Page 81: with not the same emphasis as the i
Page 85 and 86: ____ (2004) Model Equal Opportuniti
Page 87 and 88: ____ (2003) ‘New Era for Local Po
Page 89: ____ (2003) Peace Agreements As A M
show all

Agreement Reached in the Multi-Party Negotiations - Transitional ...

You also want an ePaper? Increase the reach of your titles

Delete template?

Save as template?