0:02 The Good Friday
0:04 agreement the historic peace treaty
0:06 brought Republicans and unionists
0:08 together after Decades of violent
0:11 political conflict in Northern Ireland
0:13 so what is the Good Friday agreement and
0:18 how did it come to be this is DEC
0:21 complicated what is the Good Friday
0:24 agreement the Belfast agreement more
0:25 commonly known as The Good Friday
0:28 agreement was a peace treaty signed in
0:30 Northern Ireland on the 10th of April
0:33 1998 it effectively brought an end to a
0:35 period of trauma and turmoil known as
0:37 the troubles which had raged in the
0:40 region for around 30 years the conflict
0:42 was between Republicans who wanted the
0:44 province to become part of United
0:47 Ireland and unionists who wanted to
0:49 remain within the UK the peace treaty
0:51 established a cross community consensus
0:53 for peace and the future direction of the
0:54 the [Music]
0:56 [Music]
1:00 region what were the troubles
1:03 from the late 1960s Northern Ireland was
1:05 plunged into a brutal conflict between
1:07 Republicans who with the wider
1:09 nationalist Community are mostly
1:12 Catholic and unionists who are mostly
1:14 Protestant violence was largely
1:17 perpetrated by par military groups on
1:20 both sides such as the IRA and the uvf
1:22 While others were killed by the British
1:24 Security Forces after the Army was
1:26 deployed in the summer of
1:28 1969 of the
1:32 3,53 32 people who died the majority
1:34 were civilians many of whom were killed
1:37 in random tit fortat attacks across the
1:40 sectarian divide for the bulk of this
1:42 30-year period of conflict Northern
1:46 Ireland was under direct rule from
1:48 Westminster how did the Good Friday
1:51 agreement come to be after years of
1:53 failed negotiations and backchannel
1:55 discussions progress was slowly made
1:59 across the 1990s in 1996 cross party
2:01 peace talks began eight Northern Ireland
2:03 political parties were involved and the
2:06 UK and Irish governments and US
2:08 President Bill Clinton sent a senator to chair
2:09 chair
2:11 talks the agreement was eventually
2:13 announced on the afternoon of the 10th
2:15 of April
2:18 1998 the British and Irish governments
2:20 agreed to hold joint referendums on the
2:23 22nd of May 1998 the referendum in
2:25 Northern Ireland was on accepting the
2:28 Good Friday agreement itself a copy of
2:30 which was posted to every household
2:34 and 71% of people voted yes the
2:35 referendum in the Republic of Ireland
2:38 was to amend the country's Constitution
2:39 to relinquish its claim on Northern
2:42 Ireland an overwhelming 94% of people
2:45 voted to do so the deal was formally
2:47 made between the British and Irish
2:49 governments and the eight political
2:52 parties from Northern Ireland however
2:54 the dup Northern Ireland's largest
2:56 unionist party were the only major
2:59 political group to oppose it the
3:00 agreement ackn knowledged the
3:02 Constitutional status of Northern
3:04 Ireland as part of the UK reflecting the
3:07 wish of the majority of citizens but it
3:09 also established a principle of consent
3:11 that a United Ireland could come about
3:14 if and when a majority of people both in
3:15 the Republic of Ireland and Northern
3:17 Ireland wanted
3:20 it in this instance the British
3:21 government would be bound to hold a
3:24 referendum and honor the result three
3:25 strands of new institutions were
3:27 established in the agreement a
3:29 democratically elected Powers sharing
3:31 Northern Ireland assembly to create laws
3:34 in the region a north south ministerial
3:37 Council for crossb issues and a British
3:39 Irish Council and governmental
3:41 conference the Northern Ireland assembly
3:44 would be elected every 5 years and be
3:46 led by an executive or cabinet of
3:48 ministers which would require the
3:50 participation of parties on both sides
3:53 of the community divide crucially the
3:55 agreement committed the parties to
3:56 democratic and peaceful methods of
4:00 resolving political issues but also to
4:01 begin the decommissioning of
4:03 paramilitary groups and normalized
4:05 security Arrangements in Northern
4:07 Ireland the agreement marked a
4:09 commitment to the mutual respect the
4:11 Civil Rights and the religious Liberties
4:14 of everyone in the community and Britain
4:16 agreed to incorporate the European
4:18 convention on human rights into the law
4:24 Ireland Good Friday agreement put an end
4:26 to the troubles in Northern Ireland but
4:29 the work of sustaining peace goes on
4:31 despite all challenges to the Accord
4:34 over the years and the difficulties that
4:36 are still occurring today the Good
4:38 Friday agreement has been a major
4:41 example of Peace building to the world [Music]
