The Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission (IHREC) is hosting today’s meeting of the statutory joint committee set up under the Good Friday Agreement, made up of representatives from IHREC and the Northern Ireland Human Rights Commission (NIHRC).

Tánaiste Simon Coveney will meet the committee to outline his perspectives on the means of addressing the risks and challenges for people’s human rights and equality as the UK withdraws from the EU.

The committee will also gather evidence from expert academics from Queen’s University Belfast, Durham University, Ulster University and the University of Birmingham on the specific human rights and equality impacts of the UK withdrawal for people in the island of Ireland.

The committee will consider withdrawal terms, the Common Travel Area, national identity and rights, cooperative justice arrangements and the equivalence of rights under the Good Friday Agreement.

In preparation for Brexit, IHREC has committed additional resources to bolster the committee’s work. It has expressed hope NIHRC will be provided with “necessary support” from the government to do likewise.

Mr Coveney said: “The human rights provisions are a fundamental pillar of the Belfast/Good Friday Agreement and the Government as a co-guarantor of the Agreement takes very seriously its responsibility to support the full implementation and realisation of all provisions of the Agreement, including those which require equivalent standards of protections of rights in Ireland and Northern Ireland.”

Emily Logan, IHREC Chief Commissioner, said: “The need to ensure that rights and protections guaranteed to people are protected is implicit to the Belfast/Good Friday Agreement.

“This Joint Committee has a responsibility to ensure that values of respect for human rights and equality set out within that Agreement, are in no way undermined or weakened within the negotiations, and final UK-EU withdrawal agreement.”

Les Allamby, NIHRC Chief Commissioner, said: “The UK government’s decision to leave the European Union has thrown the Belfast (Good Friday) Agreements aim of ensuring an equivalent level of human rights protection across the island of Ireland into sharp relief.

“The potential loss of the EU Fundamental Charter of Rights alongside the continuing absence of a Bill of Rights for Northern Ireland means Human Rights protections could be heading in the wrong direction. Twenty years on, holding human rights and equality protections remains a vital underpinning of the Belfast (Good Friday) Agreement.

“We call on the UK Government to put the Northern Ireland Human Rights Commission on an equal footing with the Irish Commission and provide adequate funding to carry out this vital work.”