‘We were outsiders,’ says one of the women behind the Good Friday Agreement

When the Good Friday Agreement was signed 25 years ago, on April 10, 1998, in Belfast, Monica McWilliams was one of several women at the table. But he says that – for the most part – it’s not accepted.

The agreement, which was approved in two referendums – one in Northern Ireland and one in Ireland – one month later, largely led to three decades of violent hostility, known as the Troubles, between loyalists who wanted to remain part of the United Kingdom, and nationalists who wanted Ireland united.

McWilliams is one of the founders of the Northern Ireland Women’s Coalition, a group created to ensure that women are part of the historic peace process.

This year, the work of McWilliams and other women of peace is highlighted UN exhibition called The heroine is peaceful.

McWilliams – a former member of the Northern Ireland Assembly and emeritus professor at Ulster University’s Transitional Justice Institute – spoke to As it happens host Nil Köksal is there. This is part of the conversation.

What does this agreement mean for you in 25 years?

I’m so glad we had the chance to celebrate. Because when you make an agreement, you don’t get that time, because it takes a while for it to sink in. And because everyone has told me that this is an intractable problem that cannot be solved.

It was with some relief that I got up from the table exactly around this time 25 years ago. And I went home very much with my children who I haven’t seen for three days and three nights.

Actually, it is my children who give me a sense of reality. My eldest son is only 10 years old.

I said, “Yes, son, it is.”

And he said, “Does that mean all the killing will stop? And will the riots stop?”

And I said, “Well, probably not. We’re going to have to work hard to make this agreement work.”

And he said, like children. “Well, what? exercise are you coming in today?”

It was really when I sat down and thought, “Well, now I have to explain it to people and get them to say ‘yes’ in six weeks to what we’re saying now.”

You have also, for all these years, to watch – in large part – people ask for and take credit for the Good Friday Agreement. Is it already like that?

I’m really surprised at the attention, finally, that a small party like the Northern Ireland Women’s Coalition is getting now. It wasn’t like that 25 years ago. We also do not want or expect, because this is what women are used to. They ask and do practical work to build peace and make it possible. And we were not looking for accolades.

But today it is very good to hear that we play a role at the table, and a very important role, and there is a clause in the agreement about integrated education and resources for young people, community development and civil forums that will not. already in agreement. The most important thing is the issue of … restitution for the victims.

They said, ‘The table you should sit at is the table you want to polish.’​​​​​​– Monica McWilliams, founder of the Northern Ireland Women’s Coalition

If you go back in time, you know, when you were sitting at that table, when you formed this coalition, what did you do?

We are the outsiders who have come in, and they make us feel – some, not all – that we don’t belong. They said, “The table is the only thing that should be on the table to be polished.”

that’s it [one of] good thing I can repeat. Other things probably cannot be repeated because they are insulting and humiliating.

But we started an “Insult of the Week” bulletin board. We put the name on it. We put an insult on it. And then we mention it – long before the #MeToo movement – 25 years ago. And we use good humor, because some of it is just funny. And we decided to focus on the bigger stake of making peace.

What brought you all together in the first place?

Some of us are very proud to be feminists and want to see more women in public decision making.

And many of us have suffered too. I, as a student, have lost a very good friend who was murdered when he was 20 years old. And so that we are determined that this process will be inclusive, there must be women at the table.

But, well, that’s the process we want to go through. And we have our own problems. We broadened the agenda, and we put these issues on the table. And we were very proud signatories when we saw the clause that we have attached.

And today, 25 years later, we still apply it. We are still implementing it. That’s what women do. And we never give up.

You hinted at this at the beginning of the conversation, how the negotiations were unclear. You know, they have been in place now for all these years, but at that time, it was still very dicey. Can you give us a taste of what happened?

Even until last week, we didn’t know if we were going to get a deal.

Sunday is like a yo-yo. And emotions also rise and fall as quickly as the agreement comes in one minute, out of the window the next.

But finally, in the evening today, exactly 25 years ago, around this time … I put my hand as one of the parties around the table and announced: “I am in favor.”

My hair stood on end and like you just said…. I wonder, you know, do you think the rest of the world can learn from what you and other women involved can achieve?

We were very proud of the fact [that] … two years later, behind what was done in Northern Ireland, there was a UN Security Council resolution … known as UN Security Council Resolution 1325: Women, Peace and Security. And order governments and parties in other situations of political conflict to include women in negotiating teams.

So perhaps that is our legacy. And for me, from the local to the global, I think it’s great to be connected.