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The purpose of drafting a Model Bill was to explore in the necessary level of detail how the past-related elements of the Stormont House Agreement could be implemented in practice, in a way that would be human rights compliant and answer the needs of victims and broader society.
The idea was to influence the official drafting of legislation while reflecting a human rights based approach and the perspective of civil society. During the drafting process, the team held meetings to share the work in progress and to consult with the Department of Justice, the Northern Ireland Office, the Irish Department of Foreign Affairs, the Legacy Practitioners Group of NGOs, lawyers and academics, political representatives and other stakeholders.
This conference was held to officially launch the ‘Model Implementation Bill’.
The Model Bill offers the detail required to implement all four new institutions that are envisaged in the Stormont House Agreement: Historical Investigations Unit, Independent Commission on Information Retrieval, Oral History Archive and Implementation and Reconciliation Group.
This project has developed from a partnership between civil society and academia. In 2014, the Queen’s University School of Law and Ulster University Transitional Justice Institute partnered with local non-governmental organisation, the Committee on the Administration of Justice to work on a project on dealing with the past supported by the QUB Business Alliance Fund and the QUB Collaborative Development Fund.
Those involved in the drafting committee of the model bill are: Professor Kieran McEvoy (QUB) Daniel Holder (CAJ) Professor Louise Mallinder (TJI, UU) Brian Gormally (CAJ) Jeremy Hill (Visiting Fellow, TJI) Gemma McKeown (CAJ) Anna Bryson (QUB) Daniel Greenberg (Barrister specialising in legislation).
Briefing Paper looking at the key issues in the Stormont House Agreement can be found here [Download -available in folder]
The Model Bill Team decided to take on the responsibility of putting forward practical proposals, within the parameters of the Agreement, rather than producing what the drafters would think of as a perfect model. The idea was to influence the official drafting of legislation while reflecting a human rights based approach and the perspective of civil society. During the drafting process, the team held meetings to share the work in progress and to consult with the Department of Justice, the Northern Ireland Office, the Irish Department of Foreign Affairs, the Legacy Practitioners Group of NGOs, lawyers and academics, political representatives and other stakeholders. We also shared a draft version of the model bill at a high profile conference in May 2015.
