Britain sees Brexit violence as option for treaty breach

Posted by Jim on March 20, 2019

A return of loyalist violence in the north of Ireland could help Britain
wriggle out of its international treaty obligations in regard to the
border and the Good Friday Agreement, according to its Attorney
General.

AG Geoffrey Cox has delivered his latest legal advice to help convince
unionists and racist Tories to support the current Brexit deal and its
‘backstop’ provisions, which are intended to prevent a remilitarisation
of the border.

Cox’s new advice may be enough to squeeze the deal through parliament
after it was rejected by British MPs last week.  Amid a mounting sense
of crisis in London, other divisions at Westminster also saw them reject
a crash Brexit, and seek an extension to the Brexit deadline, currently
set for March 29, until June 30.

In a desperate gambit, Cox has now claimed that Britain could legally
resile from the ‘backstop’ provisions, intended to prevent a
remilitarisation of the border, if they are considered by London to have
a “socially destabilising effect on Northern Ireland”.

Such a ‘destabilisation’ in the north of Ireland would facilitate the
British government to trigger Article 62 of the Vienna Convention, he
argued, which allows international treaties such as the Brexit deal to
be broken in “exceptional” cases.

That appears to suggest that loyalist violence, or merely disturbances
similar to the flags protests of 2012, could be used as a pretext for
Britain to abandon the backstop and restore spy-posts and other military
infrastructure to the border area.

The idea that loyalist paramilitaries could play a role in reinforcing
the partition of Ireland appears to have won favour with the DUP, who
remain closely allied with loyalist hardliners across the north of
Ireland. DUP deputy leader Nigel Dodds has described the discussions as
“constructive”.

However, Cox’s legal advice received criticism from other quarters. Some
commentators noted that it would actively encourage loyalists to use
violence to achieve their goals, while other legal experts pointed out
that by advising of the idea, Cox had already ruled out that it could be
considered ‘exceptional’ or ‘unforeseen’, as required under the Vienna
Convention.

One hardline unionist politician has already warned that the border
through Ireland could be “maintained by the gun”. In a Facebook video
late last year, loyalist pastor Barrie Halliday said “men and women…
paid for that line to remain where it is by laying down their lives. It
was defended by the gun and will be maintained by the gun.”

Brexit has also been linked to a degree of social destabilisation and
violence in Ireland already. Last week, a series of package devices were
sent from Ireland to Britain, including two posted to military
recruitment offices. None of the devices exploded, but they were claimed
in the name of the New IRA, their first parcel bomb attack in five
years. The same organisation in January detonated a large car bomb at
Derry’s courthouse, without causing injury.

Discussions between the DUP and the British government are to resume on
Monday ahead of an expected third Westminster vote on the Brexit deal
next week. Sinn Fein’s Chris Hazzard has called on the DUP and Tory
Brexiteers to step back from the “cliff-edge” of a “crash-out”.

“After yet another week of chaos in the British Parliament with
ministerial resignations and bizarre and delusional votes, the north of
Ireland is still facing the possibility of being dragged out of the EU
and over an economic cliff edge in a no-deal Brexit,” he said.

“There is no such thing as a good Brexit but crashing out with no deal
would have dire economic consequences for the north.”