Sir, - The Troubles in Northern Ireland began 30 years ago this year when the Civil Rights movement took to the streets because there was no other way of securing justice and equality there.
It is surprising, then, that there has been so little focus on the human rights, justice and equality provisions in the Mitchell agreement, which are arguably the best part of it.
On paper at least, the agreement promises a comprehensive human rights framework with a Human Rights Commission, a Bill of Rights, an Equality Commission and commissions on the future of policing and the justice system. And that is complemented by daring proposals on prisoners and measures to assist the Irish language.
Government promises often remain just that and commissions can dilute the most radical-seeming proposals, but the commitments in the agreement provide the North's burgeoning civil society with the opportunity to turn these promises into real and effective institutions with sharp teeth.
Arguably, if the larger structures such as the Assembly and cross-Border bodies get bogged down in sectarian squabbling, the human rights provisions will be even more urgent and necessary. They will provide both communities with a method to redress their grievances without resorting to violence.
The agreement contains good news for human rights activists in the Republic as well. Dublin could not provide a lower level of rights protection than in the North, so the Irish Government has had to promise a Human Rights Commission as well, a re-think of its resistance to incorporating the European Convention on Human Rights into Irish law, equal status legislation, and a "wide-ranging review" of the Offences Against the State Act.
Once again, it will be up to NGOs and human rights activists to ensure that these promises are turned into reality, but the commitments in the agreement provide the best opportunity for years to put in place a wide-ranging and effective human rights framework in the Republic. And it should not be just for show. The treatment of refugees and travellers alone indicates that it is needed here just as much as in the North.
Not everybody in either jurisdiction is going to want all this to work. The struggle for justice and equality that began 30 years ago will not be over once the agreement is approved, if it is approved. In many ways the hardest part of that struggle may just be beginning, but the human rights provisions of the agreement can provide the tools to finish the job. - Yours, etc.,
Michael Farrell,
Monaloe Avenue, Blackrock, Co Dublin.