Lessons from Northern Ireland for Building Lasting Peace

The conflict in Northern Ireland, which led to over 3,720 deaths and 47,000 injuries, is often thought of as a conflict over territory and constitutional status. In truth, its roots lie deeper in issues of inequality and human rights abuses, exacerbated by actions of the security sector. Twenty-five years into the peace process, significant progress has been made in addressing these issues, but neither the inequality nor the human rights abuses have been fully resolved.

The Northern Ireland conflict is characterised as one of clashing tribes over the constitutional status of the six counties in the North-East corner of Ireland – a guerilla war between the Protestant/Unionist/Loyalist communities whose allegiance lies with the British Crown and the union with the other regions of the United Kingdom, and the Catholic/Nationalist/Republican communities who desired those six counties to be part of a United Ireland. The end of the 30-year conflict was signalled on the 10^th of April 1998, when the Good Friday Agreement was signed, and then approved the following month by public votes in Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland.

The eruption of conflict is often acknowledged to have been caused by the systemic discrimination of the Catholic community in issues related to employment, public services, and voting rights. After all, the very first Prime Minister of Northern Ireland, James Craig, explicitly declared in 1934 that the region was a ‘Protestant State for a Protestant People,’ leading to the allocation of resources and power along sectarian lines. However, to fully understand the recent period of conflict in the island of Ireland, a more in-depth examination of the root causes is needed.

The Role of the Security Sector: A Catalyst for Violence

The security sector played a crucial role in the conflict and the onset of the violence is closely linked to the presence and actions of British security forces in Northern Ireland. The violent response from the police force in Northern Ireland to the peaceful Civil Rights Movement in the late 1960s triggered riots, leading to the deployment of the British Army. This escalated into tragic events like Bloody Sunday in Derry in 1972, when British soldiers shot and killed 13 unarmed protestors. The truth of that day was obscured as the narrative shifted to falsely portray the protestors as armed, in an attempt to justify the killings.

It took over 30 years and £191 million for the Bloody Sunday Inquiry to reveal the truth and formally acknowledge the families’ loss: the protestors were unarmed, and the Army had fired first. On the day the inquiry’s findings were released in 2010, British Prime Minister David Cameron delivered a landmark speech in Parliament, offering an official apology and condemning Bloody Sunday as ‘unjustified and unjustifiable.’ This unprecedented move marked a significant moment in the conflict’s history, formally recognising the wrongdoing. Yet, it is important to note that many families are still forced to continue their fight for justice.

As both socio-economic inequality and grievances related to policing and justice were crucial in driving and prolonging the conflict, addressing these issues became central to the peace process and the Good Friday Agreement. Grassroots input and community involvement were essential in this effort, as securing community support for a new police service was vital for its success.

Transforming Policing: Community-Driven Reforms and the Path to Accountability

After the signing of the Good Friday Agreement in 1998, an Independent Commission was tasked with engaging communities to develop recommendations for a new police service in Northern Ireland. Human rights were established as a key guiding principle for these reforms. New oversight bodies, such as the Policing Ombudsman and Policing and Community Safety Partnerships, were created with community and political representatives to ensure accountability. Many former members of the former police force in Northern Ireland (the Royal Ulster Constabulary) were offered generous compensation packages to retire early, and a recruitment campaign aimed to ensure that 50 per cent of recruits were Catholic. The new police service was downsized, adopted new uniforms and logos incorporating both Irish and British symbols, and was renamed the Police Service of Northern Ireland rather than being called a ‘police force.’

Community input also drove the negotiation and inclusion of provisions in the Good Friday Agreement tackling inequalities and human rights abuses. A coalition of non-governmental organisations, trade unions, and community activists pushed for equality and participation to be central to the agreement. Their efforts secured a legal commitment to consider equality of opportunity in policymaking and mandated consultation with affected communities on policy decisions impacting their lives.

The Price of Peace for Communities

What often goes unrecognised are the sacrifices made by communities in Northern Ireland to achieve peace. They played a crucial role by sharing their knowledge, designing solutions, and rallying their wider community towards reconciliation and peace. However, the credit for peacebuilding efforts too often goes to Presidents, Prime Ministers, and other politicians, overshadowing the immense contributions of ordinary people. Achieving peace required a massive leap of faith, and included enormous compromises, such as the Irish government amending its constitution to remove its territorial claim to the six counties of Northern Ireland. Some of the sacrifices were also painful and personal, as many had to forgo justice by accepting an agreement that allowed those who had killed their loved ones to be released early from prison, often to a hero’s welcome.

Too often, this narrative goes unheard. We must ask: to what extent is peace serving those who paid this price? While the violence has mostly subsided, and there have been notable successes, these achievements often resulted from collaborative efforts.

Global Lessons for Building Lasting Peace

As the case of Northern Ireland shows, addressing socio-economic inequalities is crucial for tackling the root causes of violence. However, two decades after the peace agreement, the areas that experienced the highest number of conflict-related deaths—West Belfast and North Belfast—remain among the most impoverished. Suicide rates have surged in the years following the conflict, now being the highest in the United Kingdom. The Police Service of Northern Ireland is no longer required to ensure equal representation among its recruits, and subsequently, Catholic officer numbers have fallen dramatically. Northern Ireland also has the third highest rate of femicide in Europe, and its policing of the racist riots that gripped Belfast in August 2024 has led many people to lose faith in the police again.

Still, the successes and failures of the Northern Ireland peace process provide critical lessons for building sustainable peace. They highlight the necessity of constantly striving towards a human rights-compliant police force to address not only street conflict but also gender-based and familial violence. They also stress the importance of meaningful community involvement, not just in designing peace agreements but also in ensuring their implementation through adequate and sustained funding over the decades. Finally, they underscore the value of building partnerships, extending beyond the ‘usual suspects’ to include international experts, local groups, and those in the private sector willing to invest in building prosperity on the basis of equality. This approach helps leverage knowledge, attention, and investment to meet the needs and rights of those most affected by the conflict, who took a courageous step by voting for peace almost 27 years ago.

A version of this piece was first published on the Pathfinders blog. For a rich reliable resource on the conflict in Northern Ireland see the CAIN Archive at Ulster University.

The views expressed in this post are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the position of the Atlantic Fellows for Social and Economic Equity programme, the International Inequalities Institute, or the London School of Economics and Political Science.