The Belfast Agreement Citation

The agreement came after many years of complex discussions, proposals and compromises. A lot of people have made a great contribution. Tony Blair and Bertie Ahern were the leaders of the United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland at the time. The presidency was chaired by U.S. Special Envoy George Mitchell. [3] The multi-party agreement required the parties to “use all the influence they could have” to obtain the dismantling of all paramilitary weapons within two years of the adoption of the agreement by The Referendums. The standardization process has forced the British government to reduce the number and role of its armed forces in Northern Ireland “to a level compatible with a normal peaceful society.” These include the elimination of security measures and the abolition of special emergency powers in Northern Ireland. The Irish government has pledged to conduct a “thorough review” of its violations of national law. The participants in the agreement were composed of two sovereign states (the United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland), with armed forces and police forces involved in the riots. Two political parties, Sinn Féin and the Progressive Unionist Party (PUP), were linked to paramilitary organisations: the IRA (Commissional Irish Republican Army) and the Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF).

The Ulster Democratic Party (UDP), associated with the Ulster Defence Association (UDA), had withdrawn from the talks three months earlier. This agreement was possible because Tony Blair`s clear majority in Parliament and the less historic ties between Labour and the Protestant Ulster Unionist Party Blair have made the Catholic minority less skewed. At the same time, Bill Clinton`s acceptance of Gerry Adams strengthened his hand against the IRA and allowed him to declare a ceasefire while leaving behind the majority of the IRA. The agreement was approved by voters across the island of Ireland in two referendums on 22 May 1998. In Northern Ireland, in the 1998 referendum on the Good Friday Agreement in Northern Ireland, voters were asked if they supported the multi-party agreement. In the Republic of Ireland, voters were asked whether they would allow the state to sign the agreement and authorize the necessary constitutional changes (nineteen constitutional amendments from Ireland) to facilitate it. The citizens of both countries had to approve the agreement to implement it. The agreement reaffirmed its commitment to “mutual respect, civil rights and religious freedoms for all within the Community.” The multi-party agreement recognized “the importance of respect, understanding and tolerance with regard to linguistic diversity,” particularly with regard to the Irish language, Ulster Scots and the languages of other ethnic minorities in Northern Ireland, “all of which are part of the cultural richness of the Island of Ireland.”