Evolving justice arrangements post-Brexit

This report provides an analysis of existing justice and security cooperation between the UK and the EU, as well as the evolving justice arrangements post-Brexit. On 23 June 2016, the United Kingdom voted to leave the European Union. Given the current level of cooperation between the UK and EU on justice and security matters, this stands to have potentially far reaching and severe consequences for the UK. Yet, research and public discussion on the potential impact of Brexit for justice and security has been largely absent. With much of the focus being on areas such as trade, borders, immigration and sovereignty, the Joint Committee of the Northern Ireland Human Rights Commission and the Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission commissioned this academic research report on the evolving justice arrangements post-Brexit, with a particular focus on the human rights implications. Currently, the UK participates in a range of justice and security cooperation measures. These include extraditions measures, such as the European Arrest Warrant (EAW); policing and prosecutorial cooperation, such as Europol and Eurojust, Joint Investigation Teams and the European Investigation Order; as well as information and data sharing tools, such as the Schengen Information System (SIS II) and the European Criminal Records Information System (ECRIS).This cooperation has not only helped to advance the effectiveness of the justice and security systems in the UK, but it has also been important in the specific context of the East/West and North/South relationships of the UK and the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland (NI) and Ireland respectively. Given the necessity of maintaining a high level of policing cooperation due to the 310-mile land border and the specific postconflict realities on the island, any disruption to police cooperation could have serious consequences. If the UK leaves the EU without a deal, there will be immediate consequences for the ability of the UK to continue to participate in these EU measures. If the UK leaves with a deal, the transition period would enable the current arrangements to continue, but many of the same consequences would become apparent once this period ends. Given the information available, these consequences range from instant removal of access, to continued participation without any decision-making power. It is against this background that this report explores the evolving justice and security relationship between the UK and the EU. We examine the current areas of cooperation as well as the possible future scenarios and the human rights implications of each of these. We provide this analysis across five main areas: (i) extradition, repatriation and transfer; (ii) policing and prosecutorial cooperation; (iii) crossborder justice arrangements on the island of Ireland; (iv) information and data sharing; and (v) judicial oversight. The analysis is informed by a literature review of existing research in this area, legal analysis conducted by the authors, as well as interviews with experts working in the area of justice and security. A total of 14 experts were interviewed, including academics, practitioners, and representatives from human rights organisations. They were asked specific questions relating to each of the five project themes, as well as general questions on the desirability of the various possible post-Brexit arrangements