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 Commissions 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 UKâs EU membership.
