The Mitchell Principles were six ground rules agreed by the

Irish Irish may refer to: Common meanings * Someone or something of, from, or related to: ** Ireland, an island situated off the north-western coast of continental Europe ***Éire, Irish language name for the isle ** Northern Ireland, a constituent unit ...

and

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governments and the political parties in

Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ga, Tuaisceart Éireann ; sco, label= Ulster-Scots, Norlin Airlann) is a part of the United Kingdom, situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, that is variously described as a country, province or region. Nort ...

regarding participation in talks on the future of the region. They were named for

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

Senator George Mitchell, who was heavily involved in the

Northern Ireland peace process The Northern Ireland peace process includes the events leading up to the 1994 Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA) ceasefire, the end of most of the violence of the Troubles, the Good Friday Agreement of 1998, and subsequent political developm ...

as the

United States Special Envoy for Northern Ireland The United States Special Envoy for Northern Ireland (officially the Special Envoy of the President and the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland) is the top United States Foreign Service, U.S. diplomat supporting the Northern Ireland peace ...

. All involved in negotiations had to affirm their commitment: *To democratic and exclusively peaceful means of resolving political issues; *To the total disarmament of all paramilitary organisations; *To agree that such disarmament must be verifiable to the satisfaction of an independent commission; *To renounce for themselves, and to oppose any effort by others, to use force, or threaten to use force, to influence the course or the outcome of all-party negotiations; *To agree to abide by the terms of any agreement reached in all-party negotiations and to resort to democratic and exclusively peaceful methods in trying to alter any aspect of that outcome with which they may disagree; and, *To urge that "punishment" killings and beatings stop and to take effective steps to prevent such actions.Knox, Colin and al. ''Peacebuilding in Northern Ireland, Israel and South Africa'' St. Martin's Press, LLC: 2000. page 39

Sinn Féin Sinn Féin ( , ; en, " eOurselves") is an Irish republican and democratic socialist political party active throughout both the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland. The original Sinn Féin organisation was founded in 1905 by Arthur G ...

's acceptance of the principles was strongly criticised by more hardline republicans and led to resignations within the party.

References

{{Reflist Northern Ireland peace process 1996 in international relations 2006 in Northern Ireland 2006 in Ireland