RSI & CAJ in the House of Lords: Overseas Operations Bill must uphold the Good Friday Agreement

14th April 2021

On13April 2021, Baroness Ritchie of Downpatrick, a member of the House of Lords, publicly raised many concerns that RSI has with the UK’s Overseas Operations Bill duringareport stage debate.

Quoting heavily from a briefing we created jointly with the Committee on the Administration of Justice,Baroness Ritchie proposed amendments which, in our view, would mitigate the impact of the Bill on the Good Friday(Belfast)Agreement and the broader peace process in NorthernIreland:

u201c…the Bill, as it applies to theUK as a whole, breachesthe UK’s legal obligations under international humanitarian law, human rights law and international criminal law. Amendments to remove provisions in the Bill to address these breaches would also, by default, remove the incompatibility with the Belfast Agreement.Should these amendments not be made, the issue of incompatibility with the Belfast agreement would remain and would, I fear, set a dangerous precedent if left unchallenged. I therefore urge the Minister to meet me, and representatives of both organisations, to discuss these issues further.u201d (Baroness Ritchie of Downpatrick