The chapter addresses a fundamental aspect of Northern Ireland's Agreement: the need to institutionalise rights protections. While a Bill of Rights should uphold traditional liberal norms of freedom and individual equality, an appropriately designed Bill also needs to entrench the basic political compromise at the heart of the Agreement. It should protect (or at least not endanger) the principles of inclusive power-sharing; proportionality; community self-government; the equality of groups; and community veto rights. It should also uphold the right of the current national minority and any...

The chapter addresses a fundamental aspect of Northern Ireland's Agreement: the need to institutionalise rights protections. While a Bill of Rights should uphold traditional liberal norms of freedom and individual equality, an appropriately designed Bill also needs to entrench the basic political compromise at the heart of the Agreement. It should protect (or at least not endanger) the principles of inclusive power-sharing; proportionality; community self-government; the equality of groups; and community veto rights. It should also uphold the right of the current national minority and any future minority to meaningful cross-border arrangements, making explicit the ‘double protection model’ implicit in the Agreement.