Independent International Commission on Decommissioning facts for kids

The Independent International Commission on Decommissioning (IICD) was a special group created to help remove weapons from groups in Northern Ireland. This was a big part of the peace process, which aimed to bring lasting peace to the region. The IICD's main job was to make sure that paramilitary weapons were safely taken out of use.

Setting Up the Commission

Before the IICD was formed, another international group looked into how weapons could be removed. They suggested that an "independent commission" should oversee this process.

In 1997, laws were passed in both Ireland and the United Kingdom to allow such a group to be set up. The British and Irish governments agreed to create the IICD on August 26, 1997.

Who Was in the IICD?

The commission had three main members:

• General (Ret.) John de Chastelain from Canada (Chairman)
• Brigadier Tauno Nieminen from Finland
• Ambassador Donald C. Johnson from the US (1997–1999), followed by Andrew D. Sens from the US (1999–2011)

What Was the IICD's Goal?

The IICD's main goal was to help remove firearms, ammunition, and explosives. They did this by:

• Talking with the British and Irish governments, and with groups involved in the peace talks.
• Creating plans for how to remove the weapons.
• Watching, checking, and confirming that weapons were being removed.
• Collecting and keeping track of the weapons.
• Reporting regularly on how things were going.

The Good Friday Agreement and Decommissioning

In 1998, the Good Friday Agreement was signed. In this agreement, all groups promised to completely disarm. They also agreed to work with the IICD to remove all paramilitary weapons within two years. This was meant to happen after the agreement was approved by people in both Northern Ireland and Ireland.

However, removing the weapons took longer than expected. The two-year goal was not met. For a while, some political groups would not fully support the peace agreement until weapons were removed. Eventually, talks happened between the IICD and these groups. Their weapons were then "put beyond use," meaning they could no longer be used. Loyalist groups also began removing their weapons later, finishing in 2010.

Removing Republican Weapons

In 2000, Martti Ahtisaari, a former president of Finland, and Cyril Ramaphosa, a South African leader, were asked to check the weapons held by the Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA). They wrote three reports over the next year.

Provisional IRA Weapons

On September 26, 2005, the IICD released its fourth and final report on the IRA's weapon removal. General John de Chastelain and his team stated they were "satisfied that the arms decommissioned represent the totality of the IRA's arsenal." This means they believed all the IRA's weapons had been removed.

Two independent witnesses, Catholic priest Father Alec Reid and former president of the Methodist Church in Ireland, Reverend Harold Good, confirmed this.

The weapons believed to have been destroyed included:

• About 1,000 rifles
• 3 tonnes of Semtex (an explosive)
• 20–30 heavy machine guns
• 7 unused surface-to-air missiles
• 7 flame throwers
• 1,200 detonators
• 20 rocket-propelled grenade launchers
• 100 handguns
• More than 100 grenades

The IRA had removed weapons three times before, in October 2001, April 2002, and October 2003. In the final removal in September 2005, General de Chastelain saw many types of weapons. These included AK-47 rifles, machine guns, missiles, explosives, mortars, flame throwers, handguns, and even some very old weapons like a WWII Bren light machine gun.

The IICD stated that they had seen and confirmed the removal of "very large quantities of arms." They believed these included all the weapons the IRA had. The witnesses added that seeing the process with their own eyes made it clear that "beyond any shadow of doubt, the arms of the IRA have now been decommissioned."

The Independent Monitoring Commission (IMC) also stated in May 2006 that they believed the IRA had finished removing all weapons "under its control" in 2005.

Other Republican Weapons

In February 2010, just before the IICD was set to close down, two other republican groups, the Irish National Liberation Army and the Official Irish Republican Army, announced that they had also removed their weapons.

Removing Loyalist Weapons

The Loyalist Volunteer Force (LVF) removed some small arms and ammunition in December 1998. The three main loyalist paramilitary groups were the Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF), Red Hand Commando (RHC), and the Ulster Defence Association (UDA). These groups kept their weapons for a longer time.

On February 12, 2006, The Observer newspaper reported that the UVF had refused to remove its weapons. However, the UVF officially removed their weapons in June 2009.

The UDA was confirmed to have removed its weapons on January 6, 2010. General de Chastelain, Lord Eames (a former archbishop), and Sir George Quigley (a former top civil servant) confirmed this. De Chastelain said the UDA's removal included arms, ammunition, explosives, and explosive devices. The UDA stated that these were "the totality of those under their control." The UDA South East Antrim Brigade, a smaller UDA group, finished removing its weapons by February 2010.