NORTHERN IRELAND:
MONITORING THE 1998 MARCHING SEASON

      
                           
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  • The Marches

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    •      		    PROJECT DESCRIPTION

    Northern Ireland's marching season presents the government of the United Kingdom with one of its first major challenges since the approval of the Multi-Party Agreement in April 1998. The tensions and violence that accompanied the marching season in the past two years threatened to destabilize the peace negotiations. This year, potential conflicts around contentious marches and parades can serve to threaten on-going efforts to implement the new agreement.

    Human Rights Watch designed this site to enable visitors to access background information on the marching phenomenon and what we see as one of the major contributions to increased tensions during the marching season: poor policing that results in serious human rights violations for which the government is ultimately responsible. The site also contains sections on plastic bullets; international standards governing police accountability and the use of force; sample letters you can send to government officials in the U.K. and the U.S.; and a list of links to human rights organizations committed to the protection of human rights in Northern Ireland.

    Most important is the Latest Update section. Human Rights Watch has two international observers in Northern Ireland who will be observing the Garvaghy Road march on July 5, 1998; smaller marches around Northern Ireland scheduled for the week of July 6-11; and the Lower Ormeau Road march on July 13. Our observers will be transmitting reports on these events and photographs to our New York office which will then post these dispatches on our web site. Our hope is to have updated information on the site as quickly as possible after the events of the day are complete. Our observers will also be taking any relevant information they gather to U.K. government officials and the new Independent Policing Commission, chaired by former Hong Kong Governor Chris Patten, in an attempt to advocate for a policing service in Northern Ireland that routinely observes international human rights standards. We are making this information available in the hope that we--and others committed to human rights--can have a positive impact on the development of an authentic rights culture in Northern Ireland in the aftermath of the historic Good Friday agreement.