Parades | Northern Ireland Policing Board

Parades

The parades issue is one which can only be fully addressed through wholehearted dialogue and discussion by the community. In 2005, the Government published the Public Processions (Amendment) (Northern Ireland) Order 2005 to address this issue. As part of our review of public order policing, the Policing Board committed itself in its framework document, published in December 2003, to monitoring the policing of certain parades.

The Northern Ireland Policing Board subsequently published Human Rights Monitoring Reports into the policing of the 12th July 2004 and 2005 Ardoyne parades and the 10^th September 2005 Whiterock Parade. Commissioned by the Policing Board, these special reports were researched and written by the Policing Board's Human Rights Advisors, Keir Starmer QC and Jane Gordon. All of the reports were endorsed by the Policing Board.

The reports provide a chronology of events and go into considerable detail and analysis on:

whether the policing of these parades complied with the requirements of the Human Rights Act 1998;
whether the determinations of the Parades Commission were properly policed; and
whether, overall, the use of force by the PSNI was justified.

The reports authors, Keir Starmer QC and Jane Gordon, commented that in respect of each parade they were satisfied that the policing operation was carefully planned and executed; that the human rights implications of all the key decisions were considered at every stage; and that, overall, the use of force complied with the requirements of the Human Rights Act 1998. All Senior Command decisions taken in relation to authorisation for the issue, deployment and use of Attenuating Energy Projectile (AEP) impact rounds and water cannon were justified, proportionate and in accordance with the PSNI policy guidelines in place. The human rights of paraders and their supporters, protesters, residents, police officers and the military were taken into account at all stages of the planning process and the Senior Command responsible for both operations reacted to the changing circumstances of the operations as events unfolded with care and diligence.

The Human Rights Advisors closely monitored the Tour of the North, Whiterock and Ardoyne Parades during 2006. Their assessment of the human rights compliance of the policing operations is included in the Human Rights Annual Report 2006.