18 January 2023
Northern Ireland Protocol Article 2 – Impact on Practitioners
Date:
Thursday 26 January 2023
Time:
1pm – 2pm
Cost: £35
plus VAT
CPD
hours: 1
Group Study
Booking Link: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/northern-ireland-protocol-article-2-impact-on-practitioners-registration-518564679917
Description:
From 1 January 2021, the Equality
Commission and the Northern Ireland Human Rights Commission acquired new
functions to monitor, advise, report on, and enforce the UK Government’s commitment under Article 2(1) of the
Protocol to ensure that there is no diminution of the rights, safeguards and
equality of opportunity provisions, as set
out in that chapter of the Belfast (Good Friday) Agreement (‘BGFA’), as a
result of the United Kingdom leaving the European Union.
The Dedicated Mechanism refers to
the work
of both Commissions in monitoring, advising, reporting on and enforcing these
obligations under Article 2(1) of the Protocol. Everyone who is protected by NI
law is covered by this commitment irrespective of whether the law has been
passed by the NI Assembly or the UK Parliament.
The Protocol recognises that EU law has
provided a ‘supporting framework’ for the rights, safeguards
and equality of opportunity protections in the BGFA.[1] Under the Protocol, the UK Government commits
to ensuring that certain rights, safeguards and
equality of opportunity protections are not diminished as
a result of the UK leaving the EU.
This session, with input jointly from the
Commissions, will cover when Article 2 of the Protocol is engaged and in what
circumstances individuals can invoke the protected rights before the UK courts.
The session will be delivered by:
Roisin
Mallon
- Director of the Equality Commission’s Dedicated Mechanism Unit. Roisin
manages the division responsible for taking forward the Commission’s role,
jointly with the NI Human Rights Commission, as the ‘dedicated mechanism’
framework established under the Northern Ireland Protocol. Prior to joining the
Equality Commission, Roisin worked as a Solicitor in private practice.
Htaik Win - Solicitor with the NIHRC. Htaik works
as part of the dedicated mechanism which oversees the UK Government’s
commitment to protecting equality and human rights in NI post Brexit. She has
significant experience of public inquiries having represented the families in
the Bloody Sunday, Robert Hamill and Rosemary Nelson inquiries. She was
also a solicitor for the Inquiry into Hyponatraemia Related Deaths. Htaik
currently serves as a Presiding Member of the Civil Legal Aid Appeals Panel and
a Legal
Member of the Victims’ Payments Board. She originally
qualified as a solicitor in England & Wales and is also admitted to the New
York Bar.
[1] Preamble to the
Ireland/Northern Ireland Protocol. The underpinning EU law for the rights,
safeguards and equality of opportunity protections within scope of Protocol
Article 2 include all the obligations of the UK’s EU membership.