<P> The multi-party agreement committed the parties to "use any influence they may have" to bring about the decommissioning of all paramilitary arms within two years of the referendums approving the agreement . The process of normalisation committed the British government to the reduction in the number and role of its armed forces in Northern Ireland "to levels compatible with a normal peaceful society". This included the removal of security installations and the removal of special emergency powers in Northern Ireland . The Irish government committed to a "wide - ranging review" of its Offences against the State legislation . </P> <P> The agreement called for the establishment of an independent commission to review policing arrangements in Northern Ireland "including (the) means of encouraging widespread community support" for those arrangements . The British government also committed to a "wide - ranging review" of the criminal justice system in Northern Ireland . </P> <P> Both the British and Irish governments committed to the early release of prisoners serving sentences in connection with the activities of paramilitary groups, provided that those groups continued to maintain "a complete and unequivocal ceasefire". Cases were reviewed individually . There was no amnesty for crimes which had not been prosecuted . </P> <P> A date of May 2000 was set for total disarming of all paramilitary groups . This was not achieved leading the assembly to be suspended on a number of occasions as a consequence of unionist objections . A series of rounds of decommissioning by the IRA took place (in October 2001, April 2002 and October 2003) and in July 2005 the IRA announced the formal end of its campaign . Loyalist decommissioning did not follow immediately . In June 2009, the UVF announced it had completed decommissioning and the UDA said it had started to decommission its arsenal . </P>

Who was released under the good friday agreement