‘McGuinness Principles’ campaign launched

Posted by Jim on April 21, 2018

A new set of “principles” to commemorate former Six County Deputy First
Minister Martin McGuinness have been advanced by Sinn Fein with the
support of a prominent US politician.

They are drawn from unimplemented agreements in the peace process, and
were formally published at a ceremony at Molloy College on Long Island
last week.

The campaign is modelled on the MacBride principles against employment
discrimination, and it is hoped the effort will re-engage
Irish-Americans who may have become disenchanted in recent years.

The organisers are calling for a Bill of Rights; full statutory equality
for the Irish language; and funding for legacy inquests as part of a
process of healing and reconciliation. They are also seeking a Six
County “self-determination” border poll.

The MacBride Principles, adopted widely in the US, committed companies
setting up in the north of Ireland to fair employment and working
conditions. Sean MacBride was a former Chief of Staff of the IRA who
founded or participated in many international organisations and was
awarded both the Nobel Peace Prize and the Lenin Peace Prize.

The leader of the US Democratic Party in the Senate, Charles Schumer,
has now endorsed the ‘McGuinness Principles’.

An event was also held in Manhattan to promote the campaign, with the
support of New York State Comptroller Tom Di Napoli and his aide Pat
Doherty, who played a major part in drafting the MacBride Principles.

After meeting with the two sons of the late Martin McGuinness, Mr
Schumer said: “The torch of Martin McGuinness is being carried forward
by his two sons, Fiachra and Emmett, who have courageously and correctly
called on all parties to the Good Friday Agreement, including the
British government, to uphold critical, yet unfulfilled elements of the
Agreement, so that full equality, mutual respect, lasting peace and a
shared prosperity can be fully realised in the North – and throughout
all of Ireland.”

Schumer said he had held discussions with the Laborers International
President Terry O’Sullivan, the Ancient Order of Hibernians and the
Brehon Law Society.

“I have a long and proud history of supporting efforts to achieve peace,
justice, reconciliation and self-determination for all the people of
Ireland. From the Scots Irish influx in the 1700’s to the waves of
immigrants that shaped the physical landscape and very future of this
nation, the people of Ireland have a deep and enduring bond with America
and with the State of New York, and this meeting is a continuation of
that abiding relationship. I am hopeful and confident that all parties
working together can achieve these vital goals.”

Other US groups backing the campaign include the Friendly Sons of St.
Patrick, American Irish Historical Society, the James Connolly
Irish-American Labor Coalition, Irish National Caucus, International
Transport Workers Union, Local 100 of the Transport Workers Union, the
Institute of Irish Studies at Molloy College, and the Hudson Valley
Irish Centre.

In a related development, a cross-party group of US Congress members has
called on the British government to implement agreed legacy mechanisms
and release funds for coroners’ inquests.

Marty Glennon of the Nassau County Brehon Law Society, said the new
campaign is also stressing the urgent need for the appointment of a US
Special Envoy to the north of Ireland.

The Principles are:

(1) EQUALITY – THE ENACTMENT OF A BILL OF RIGHTS:

The terms of the Good Friday Agreement called for the adoption of a Bill
of Rights in the North of Ireland. Twenty years after the Good Friday
Agreement was ratified by more than 70% of the voters in the North of
Ireland and 94% of the people in the Republic there is still no Bill of
Rights.

The Northern Ireland Human Rights Commission was mandated to put forward
recommendations. In 2008, the Commission made proposals to the UK
government recommending the recognition of a broad range of social and
economic rights.

Successive British governments have failed to affirmatively act on these
recommendations. Now, with significant opposition from within the
British government to continuing to accept the jurisdiction of European
human rights conventions, and a determination to scrap the Human rights
Act, it becomes even more important that the rights of Ireland’s
citizens in the North be protected when it comes to critical human
rights issues.

2) RESPECT – FULL STATUTORY EQUALITY FOR THE IRISH LANGUAGE:

The Good Friday Agreement affirmed: “the importance of respect,
understanding, and tolerance in relation to linguistic diversity,
including in Northern Ireland, the Irish language, Ulster-Scots and the
languages of the various ethnic communities, all of which are part of
the cultural wealth of the island of Ireland… the British Government
will, in particular in relation to the Irish language, where appropriate
and where people so desire it: take resolute action to promote the
language; facilitate and encourage the use of the language in speech and
writing in public and private life where there is appropriate demand …”

Eight years later, under the terms of the St. Andrews Agreement of 2006,
the British Government committed to introducing an Act to give the Irish
language official status equal to that accorded the Scots Gaelic and
Welsh languages.

They failed to honor this obligation, and the Democratic Unionist Party
explicitly repudiated it. Subsequent DUP moves in government to defund
Irish language study was a major contributing factor to the resignation
of Martin McGuinness as Northern Ireland’s Deputy First Minister in 2017
when he cited that party’s lack of “respect” for the rights and cultural
traditions of the Irish nationalist community in the North.

(3) TRUTH – EQUAL JUSTICE FOR VICTIMS OF THE CONFLICT AND THEIR
FAMILIES:

Many victims of the conflict in the North and their families have waited
decades to learn the full truth about what happened to them and their
loved ones. Funding must be provided for proper inquests to move
forward. The full story of collusion and cover-ups must be told, and
those responsible for human rights abuses must be brought to justice.

(4) SELF-DETERMINATION – THERE MUST BE A REFERENDUM ON IRISH UNITY TO
AFFIRM IRISH SELF-DETERMINATION:

Under the terms of the Good Friday Agreement of 1998, the British
government committed to formally “recognise that it is for the people of
Ireland alone, by agreement between the two parts respectively and
without external impediment to exercise their right of
self-determination on the basis of consent…”

Provisions were included for referenda on Irish unity, whose results
would be given effect by the governmental parties to the Agreement. The
Agreement went on to commit that the signatory parties (including the
British Government) should not “make any change in the status of
Northern Ireland save with the consent of a majority of its people.”

Despite the fact that Brexit clearly represents a “change in status” of
Northern Ireland, and despite the fact that the people of the North
voted by a large majority to reject Brexit and remain inside the
European Union, the British government is determined to impose this very
significant change (having potentially profound consequences for
Ireland), on the people of Ireland north and south, against their
democratically expressed wishes.

If the Good Friday Agreement commitments to self-determination are to
have any meaning, the British Government must allow the Irish people the
opportunity to determine their future.