NORTHERN IRELAND:
MONITORING THE 1998 MARCHING SEASON

Each summer in Northern Ireland loyal fraternal orders--the Orange Order, the Apprentice Boys of Derry, and the Royal Black Institution--plan marches and parades to commemorate historical events of significance to the Protestant community. This schedule of processions, beginning in May and lasting through August, is commonly referred to as the "marching season." Marches sometimes precede or follow a church service, although in recent years more and more marches not affiliated with a worship service have been planned and executed.

A small number of the marches have been labeled "contentious" as they involve processions through predominantly Catholic­nationalist neighborhoods. March organizers often argue that these routes are "traditional" having been mapped out during a time when the neighborhoods through which the marches proceed were predominantly Protestant. Nationalists argue that demographic changes have transformed these neighborhoods into areas where an overwhelming majority is now Catholic/nationalist. They view the marches as "triumphalist"--some of the processions commemorate historic battlefield victories by Protestants over Catholics--and have organized protests and demonstrations in an attempt to have marches re-routed away from nationalist neighborhoods.

Although some marches have historically given rise to tensions between the unionist/loyalist community and the nationalist community, recent years have seen an upsurge in violence accompanying the marching season. Tensions and violence between the two communities, however, has been exacerbated by the manner in which the Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC), Northern Ireland's police force, has policed the marches. Thus, while the apparent context for recent disturbances is the ongoing dispute between loyal fraternal orders and local communities organized in strong opposition to loyalist marches through predominantly nationalist areas, there is a third actor--the RUC--that must assume responsibility for policing conduct that has contributed to the violence, as opposed to being a force for defusing tensions. To portray the violence arising from contentious marches as merely a result of longstanding intercommunal conflict is to ignore the responsibility of the government and police to protect and maintain the rights of all citizens of Northern Ireland.

The fraternal orders portray their processions as traditional marches giving expression to cultural heritage, while nationalist groups characterize the marches as sectarian, providing the traditionally privileged unionists with a forum in which to re-enact historic triumphs of Protestants over Catholics. It is the tension between the loyalists' right to march (which derives from the rights to free expression, assembly, and exercise of religion) and the nationalists' rights to freedom from oppression and intimidation, to protest, and to privacy that informs the marching conflict from a human rights perspective. It is the responsibility of the state--that is, the government of the United Kingdom and its law enforcement arm, the RUC--to mediate these competing rights in an attempt to maximize the protection of both sets of rights without unduly privileging one set of rights over another. Unfortunately, the state and the RUC have failed thus far to facilitate the exercise of both sets of rights with minimal resort to violence. The RUC has used excessive physical force against peaceful protesters; indiscriminately fired plastic bullets (which have killed fourteen people in Northern Ireland) under circumstances which violate not only international standards for the use of force, but the RUC's own internal guidelines regulating the use of plastic bullets; verbally assaulted protesters with sectarian and sexist insults; and generally failed to halt illegal activities during marching disturbances.

Human Rights Watch is gravely concerned about police abuse during past marching seasons. Abusive conduct by the RUC undermines any attempt by the government to ensure that the rights of both communities are protected. As many as 3500 marches take place in Northern Ireland each year. The majority of parades pass peaceably, but many of those are at best tolerated by one section of the community, and others lead to violent confrontation. It is precisely the contentious marches where the RUC has failed in the past to ensure the safety and rights of marchers and protesters by providing impartial policing and restrained use of force in conformity with international standards. Nowhere was this more evident than in the violence resulting from the 1996 Garvaghy Road march (please see, To Serve Without Favor) in Portadown, where the RUC succumbed to the threat of loyalist violence and brutally cleared nationalist protestors from the Garvaghy Road to force through a unionist parade. The police response was characterized by brutality, sectarian abuse, and the indiscriminate use of plastic bullets resulting in widespread human rights violations.

Human Rights Watch is committed to freedom of expression and freedom of assembly as core principles of human rights. However, it is well established in international law that the right to assembly may be restricted in the interests of public safety. Thus, where a marching situation becomes dangerous, it is the duty of the authorities to balance the rights of free expression and assembly with the threat of violence. Balancing does not, however, mean choosing one set of rights over another. Where the excercise of the right to free assembly infringes on the rights and freedoms of others, limitations proportionate to the protection of the rights of others may be imposed on the assembly.

Human rights violations and the persistence of political conflict are inseparable. The April 1998 multi party agreement provides all parties with an opportunity to reject violence and to work toward permanent peace. Human Rights Watch urges the authorities to police marches impartially, cease the use of deadly plastic bullets, and respect human rights. As Human Rights Watch maintains in its April 1998 report Justice for All? An Analysis of the 1998 Northern Ireland Peace Agreement, in order to achieve a lasting peace, human rights promotion and protection must be the foundation upon which the success of the accord relies.