Neither hard nor soft but racist? The Good Friday Agreement and the Irish border after Brexit

Abstract

This is an edited version of a talk given by a human rights activist from Belfast on 26 June 2017 at a seminar, held at IRR, to discuss the implications of ‘Brexit’ on the Good Friday Agreement and the UK-Ireland Common Travel Area. The talk took place on the day of publication of the ‘confidence and supply’ agreement between the Democratic Unionist Party and the minority Conservative government. It discussed the prospects for the Good Friday Agreement in terms of the new alliance; whether populist anti-migrant racism will become institutionalised via discretionary border checks and entry decisions; how the ethos and actions of the UK Border Force fit with the peace settlement’s promise of non-discriminatory, human rights-compliant and accountable policing, and whether Brexit spells the end of the Common Travel Area and the further isolation of migrant communities.