Originally published on the CGS blog on December 23, 2015.
In Northern Ireland, there are barriers known as peace walls separating Irish Catholic and British Protestant neighborhoods from each other. Most of these walls can be found in Belfast, but some were also built in the cities of Londonderry, Lurgan, and Portadown.
They were originally set up during the era known as the Troubles* from the late 1960s to the 1990s, when riots and violent paramilitary activity between Irish Catholics (who wish to join the Republic of Ireland) and British Protestants (who want to stay with the United Kingdom) were rampant.
As peaceful relations between the two national/religious groups continue to evolve and the threat for violence diminishes, the peace walls should come down. They keep Northern Ireland in negative international spotlight, hinder the region’s economic development, and signify one of the world’s longest-lasting conflicts.
The conflict in Northern Ireland that led to these walls being erected has been managed well ever since the Good Friday Agreement of April 10, 1998.** Relations between Irish Catholics and British Protestants are still testy at times, but peace groups have helped young people across the divide establish friendships and engage in peaceful activities together.
There are many views about peace walls inside Northern Ireland. Many residents envision a future without them, but some are concerned that if they’re taken down too fast, wide-scale violence could re-erupt. People living near the walls often consider them important landmarks for remembering loved ones lost during the violence of the Troubles. And some people have lived all their lives around the peace walls and can’t imagine them being brought down, as they fear the violence of the Troubles reoccurring.
Although these walls have managed to reduce the speed at which militants and rioters could cross and cause mayhem in the other group’s neighborhoods, the fact that these walls impede movement has caused extraordinary economic hardship for the areas in which they stand.
Even before peace walls are taken down, economic and social opportunities need to increase for impoverished communities near and around the walls, another issue which several peace groups are addressing. For example, the International Fund for Ireland has sponsored programs to establish small businesses in rundown districts and to remove downtrodden buildings. The Fund has also developed shared park space and has set up peace monuments in places where intercommunity contact happens regularly, such as around certain peace wall sites.
Peace groups and observers from inside and outside of Northern Ireland will also need to continue conducting polls to see over time how peaceful intermingling within young adult populations between Irish Nationalists and British Unionists is taking place. According to this article from the Belfast Telegraph, as of April 2014 about half of the young adult population has been doing so.
And peace groups are still working on turning young people in impoverished areas away from crime and from paramilitary groups, which, although not quite as active as they used to be, are still looking for desperate young people to recruit.
Even if not all the walls are taken down by 2023 as British Officials desire, peace groups in Northern Ireland need to continue working on bringing people from both communities together to engage in peaceful dialogue and activity.
Northern Ireland has to envision a future of peace between all people who call it home, a future where all residents are respected regardless of national or religious identity, and where violence for political objectives is nearly unheard of and condemned. With help from the peace groups, this vision can come true, and with it the removal of the peace walls, economic prosperity for Northern Ireland, and a true end to the conflict.
*For a fuller understanding of the events that led to the current situation in Northern Ireland, please see the following:
http://www.infoplease.com/spot/northireland1.html
http://www.history.co.uk/shows/soldiers-stories/articles/northern-ireland-conflict
**To read the Good Friday Agreement in full, see:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/northern_ireland/4079267.stm
