[특집] 보스니아, 북아일랜드 평화협정 사례연구-북아일랜드의 “성금요일(Good Friday)” 평화 협정

The Good Friday Agreement of Northern Ireland

The Good Friday Agreement of 1998 was a historical breakthrough. The 65-page Agreement seeks to address relationships within Northern Ireland: between Northem Ireland and the Republic: and between both parts of Ireland and England. Scotland and Wales. The process, however, was grueling. The Ulster Unionist leader David Trimble insisted that UK Prime Minister Tony Blair amend the agreement to ensure that no one in the proposed Northern Ireland Assembly could take office if it had links with paramilitary groups still engaged in violence. Mr. Blair refused to make amendments but offered an assurance that politicians linked to paramilitaries who refused to hand over weapons would not hold office in a Northern Ireland government. He also promised decommissioning would have to begin immediately after the Assembly came into being. In the end. the Ulster Unionist, SDLP and Sinn Fein leadership welcomed the agreement. The final Agreement was posted to every household in Northern Ireland and put to a referendum on May 22, 1998. A referendum was also held in the Irish Republic. The result was overwhelmingly in favor of the Agreement: 71.2% of people in Northern Ireland and 94.4% in the Republic voted yes to accepting the Agreement. Factors contributing to successful agreement were the increasing cost of no-agreement, election of pro-settlement governments in Ireland and Britain, U.S. mediation. the inclusiveness of the agreement, and the imposition of the deadline. But the implementation of the agreement has been difficult. By early 1999, the future of the agreement itself was in doubt, as peacemakers failed to deal with loyalist and republican splinter threats, power-sharing, decommissioning, prisoner release and marching and parades.