Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
‘Brexit will ruin Good Friday Agreement victories’
Academics critical of any changes to legislation
A POST-BREXIT move to dilute human rights laws in the UK would undermine the Good Friday Agreement, academics warned.
Amending the provisions of the Human Rights Act risks upsetting the delicate constitutional balance achieved in the 1998 deal, experts from Queen’s University claim.
The concerns are outlined in a submission to the Government’s recently commissioned independent review of the Act.
It translates the European Convention on Human Rights into domestic UK law.
The Government announced a review of the Act and how it is functioning in December amid longstanding calls from Eurosceptics to significantly redraft or ditch it.
Former Court of Appeal judge Sir Peter Gross is leading the independent examination of how the Act is being interpreted in UK courts.
Professor Christopher Mccrudden, one of the authors of the Queen’s submission to the review, said: “We consider the current review into the Human Rights Act to be neither welcome nor timely.
“We see no need to diminish in any way the protections that the Human Rights Act currently offers to the people of Northern Ireland.
“Any move that would be widely viewed as undermining the Belfast/ Good Friday Agreement and its strong commitment to the advancement and protection of human rights would be highly-regrettable.”
The Queen’s academics state the UK’S continued ratification of the ECHR is a “significant part” of the Belfast agreement. The submission states: “They highlight the accord contains an important section on the protection of human rights and equality.
“A crucial element of these guarantees is the effective delivery of ECHR rights in Northern Ireland domestic law. The HRA is seen in part as the mechanism that delivered on the agreement’s promises . The HRA therefore has a constitutional function in Northern Ireland that is unique in the UK. Tinkering with it risks upsetting a delicate balance.”
The submission argues the Act plays an important role in policing here and in the handling of the legacy of the Troubles.