[Congressional Bills 106th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H. Res. 547 Engrossed in House (EH)]


                 In the House of Representatives, U.S.,

                                                    September 26, 2000.
Whereas the April 10, 1998, Good Friday Agreement established a framework for 
        the peaceful settlement of the conflict in Northern Ireland;
Whereas the Good Friday Agreement stated that it provided ``the opportunity for 
        a new beginning to policing in Northern Ireland with a police service 
        capable of attracting and sustaining support from the community as a 
        whole'';
Whereas the Good Friday Agreement provided for the establishment of an 
        Independent Commission on Policing to make ``recommendations for future 
        policing arrangements in Northern Ireland including means of encouraging 
        widespread community support for these arrangements'';
Whereas the Independent Commission on Policing, led by Sir Christopher Patten, 
        concluded its work on September 9, 1999, and proposed 175 
        recommendations in its final report to ensure a new beginning to 
        policing, consistent with the requirements in the Good Friday Agreement;
Whereas the Patten report explicitly ``warned in the strongest terms against 
        cherry-picking from this report or trying to implement some major 
        elements of it in isolation from others'';
Whereas section 405 of the Admiral James W. Nance and Meg Donovan Foreign 
        Relations Authorization Act, Fiscal Years 2000 and 2001 (as contained in 
        H.R. 3427, as enacted by section 1000(a)(7) of Public Law 106-113, and 
        as contained in appendix G to such Public Law) requires President 
        Clinton to certify, among other things, that the Governments of the 
        United Kingdom and Ireland are committed to assisting in the full 
        implementation of the recommendations contained in the Patten Commission 
        report issued on September 9, 1999 before the Federal Bureau of 
        Investigation or any other Federal law enforcement agency can provide 
        training for the Royal Ulster Constabulary;
Whereas a May 5, 2000, joint letter by the British Prime Minister and the Irish 
        Prime Minister stated that ``legislation to implement the Patten report 
        will, subject to Parliament, be enacted by November 2000'';
Whereas on May 16, 2000, the British Government published the proposed Police 
        (Northern Ireland) bill, which purports to implement in law the Patten 
        report;
Whereas many of the signatories to the Good Friday Agreement have stated that 
        the proposed Police (Northern Ireland) bill does not live up to the 
        letter or spirit of the Patten report and dilutes or fails to implement 
        many of the Patten Commission's key recommendations regarding 
        accountability, such as, by limiting the Policing Board and Police 
        Ombudsman's powers of inquiry, by failing to appoint a commissioner to 
        oversee implementation of the Patten Commission's 175 recommendations 
        and instead limiting the commissioner to overseeing those changes in 
        policing which are decided upon by the British Government, and by 
        rejecting the Patten Commission's recommendation that all police 
        officers in Northern Ireland take an oath expressing an explicit 
        commitment to uphold human rights;
Whereas Northern Ireland's main nationalist parties have indicated that they 
        will not participate or encourage participation in the new policing 
        structures unless the Patten report is fully implemented; and
Whereas on June 15, 2000, British Secretary of State for Northern Ireland Peter 
        Mandelson said, ``I remain absolutely determined to implement the Patten 
        recommendations and to achieve the effective and representative policing 
        service, accepted in every part of Northern Ireland, that his report 
        aimed to secure'': Now, therefore, be it
    Resolved, That the House of Representatives--
            (1) commends the parties for progress to date in implementing all 
        aspects of the Good Friday Agreement and urges them to move 
        expeditiously to complete the implementation;
            (2) believes that the full and speedy implementation of the 
        recommendations of the Independent Commission on Policing for Northern 
        Ireland holds the promise of ensuring that the police service in 
        Northern Ireland will gain the support of both nationalists and 
        unionists and that ``policing structures and arrangements are such that 
        the police service is fair and impartial, free from partisan political 
        control, accountable * * * to the community it serves, representative of 
        the society that it polices * * * [and] complies with human rights 
        norms'', as mandated by the Good Friday Agreement; and
            (3) calls upon the British Government to fully and faithfully 
        implement the recommendations contained in the September 9, 1999, Patten 
        Commission report on policing.
            Attest:

                                                                          Clerk.