Question 12925 — foreign policy

Summary

Mr Manuel Bompard alerts the Minister for Europe and Foreign Affairs to the violation of the international obligations of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland constituted by the adoption of the law relating to the legacy of the Troubles in Northern Ireland ("Legacy Bill"). Article 2 of the Protocol on Ireland and Northern Ireland to the Agreement on the Withdrawal of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland from the European Union and the European Atomic Energy Community provides that the United Kingdom must ensure "that its withdrawal from the Union does not result in any diminution of the rights and guarantees or of equal opportunities, as set out in the part of the 1998 Agreement entitled 'Rights, Guarantees and Equal Opportunities'". However, the adoption by the British Parliament of the bill relating to the legacy of the Troubles in Northern Ireland (“Legacy Bill”) constitutes a flagrant violation of Article 2 of the Protocol. Indeed, this bill was condemned by the Council of Europe's Commissioner for Human Rights, Dunja Mijatovic, who deemed it contrary to the United Kingdom's international obligations. Likewise, the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Volker Türk, considered that "the introduction of conditional immunity in this way would probably be contrary to the United Kingdom's obligations under international human rights law to investigate and, where appropriate, prosecute and punish those responsible for serious human rights violations. Similarly, the special rapporteur on the promotion of truth, justice and reparation, Fabian Salvioli, as well as the United Nations special rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions, Morris Tidball-Binz, said the bill was a violation of the Good Friday Agreement. Finally, the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe was alarmed by the incompatibility of the bill with the European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms. In view of the manifest incompatibility of this bill with the United Kingdom's international obligations, in particular the Protocol on Ireland and Northern Ireland from the Agreement on the withdrawal of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland from the European Union and the European Atomic Energy Community, he asks what measures the Government intends to adopt, in liaison with the other Member States of the European Union, in order to induce the British authorities to respect their international commitments.

Machine translation from French. The official text remains authoritative.

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