The Belfast Agreement (the Good Friday Agreement) was a political development in the Northern Ireland peace process. It was signed in Belfast on 10 April 1998 (Good Friday) by the British and Irish governments and endorsed by most Northern Ireland political parties. It was endorsed by the voters of Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland in separate referenda on 23 May 1998.  (The Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) was the only large party that opposed the Agreement.)

Main provisions

§  The principle that the constitutional future (to remain part of the UK or to break away and join the Republic of Ireland) of Northern Ireland should be determined by the majority vote of its citizens (principle of self-determination).

§  Commitment by all parties to "exclusively peaceful and democratic means".

§  The establishment of a Northern Ireland Assembly with devolved legislative powers.

§  Creation of a 'power-sharing' Northern Ireland Executive (Government), using the D'Hondt method to allocate Ministries proportionally to the main parties.

§  Creation of a North-South Ministerial Council and North-South Implementation Bodies to bring about cross-border cooperation in policy and programmes on a number of issues.

§  Establishment of a British-Irish Council, composed of representatives from the governments of the Republic of Ireland, Northern Ireland, the United Kingdom, the Channel Islands, and the Isle of Man, to discuss areas of common concern.

§  Conditional early release within two years of paramilitary prisoners belonging to organisations observing a ceasefire.

§  Establishment of the Northern Ireland Human Rights Commission

§  A two year target for decommissioning of paramilitary weapons.

§  The abolition of the Republic's territorial claim to Northern Ireland via the modification Articles 2 and 3 of the Irish Constitution.

§  New legislation for Northern Ireland on policing, human rights and equality.

§  Normalisation of security measures, e.g. closure of redundant army bases.

§  Police reform, undertaken by the Patten Commission (1998-1999) to include Catholics and Prostestants in an equal measure.

§  Equality of social, economic and cultural rights of all ethnic communities e.g. official recognition of the Irish and Ulster-Scots languages as equal to English.

Referenda
In May 1998 there were separate referenda in Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland to endorse the Belfast Agreement. The "No" vote in Northern Ireland came predominantly from unionists opposed to perceived concessions being made to nationalists and republicans. However opinion polls suggest a slim majority of unionists may have voted "Yes". In the Republic of Ireland the electorate voted upon the Nineteenth Amendment. This amendment both permitted the state to comply with the Belfast Agreement and provided for the removal of the 'territorial claim' contained in Articles 2 and 3. The Republic of Ireland voted upon the Amsterdam Treaty on the same day. The results of the two, simultaneous referenda on the Belfast Agreement were as follows:
 

credits:

1. The text was extracted from Wikipedia The Free Encyclopedia under GNU Free Documentation Licence.