James Bryce
GIBRALTAR’S chief minister has met British Prime Minister David Cameron after being summoned for talks at Downing Street.
Fabian Picardo, the first chief minister in decades to receive such a request, discussed the ongoing dispute with Spain over the Rock’s territorial waters.
The pair also talked about the impact a proposed point of consumption tax will have on Gibraltar’s gaming industry.
Cameron is fully aware of the ongoing spat over sovereignty and showed his support for Gibraltar during a speech before the Council of Europe in January, stating: “I have a very clear point of view, and we are in favour of self-determination.”
The UK also issued a strongly worded statement on the issue of Gibraltar’s sovereignty at the United Nations General Assembly in September.
“The United Kingdom restates its long-standing commitment to the people of Gibraltar that it will never enter into arrangements under which the people of Gibraltar would pass under the sovereignty of another state against their wishes.”
The meeting at No. 10 was scheduled as part of a gathering of the Joint Ministerial Council of the UK Overseas Territories.
‘Invited’ would be a more appropriate term than ‘summonsed’ it makes it sound like Picardo has done something wrong, like th Spanish ambassador who gts summonsed regarding incursions in BGTW
So Mr Cameron is ‘in favour of right to self-determination’. Who could argue with that? However, Mr Cameron knows that the real issue here is not whether one supports the principle of self-determination (most informed people do) but whether the principle applies to the occupants of the British colony of Gibraltar or not.
Under international law there are territorial limitations to the right of self-determination for transplanted populations living in colonial enclaves where a pre-colonial claim of sovereignty exists. This is the case with Gibraltar which is listed by the UN as a territory that needs to be decolonised by the UK.
A coloniser cannot legally disrupt the territorial integrity of another State by implanting its own population unto the territory it is colonising. In cases such as these, the inhabitants of the colonised territory have a right to have their ‘interests’ considered but they have no right to unilaterally determine the nationality of the land they live in.
According to UN Resolution 1514 (XV) (1960), the principle of integrity complements and constrains the right to self-determination. That resolution specifically states that ‘any attempt aimed at the partial or total disruption of the national unity and the territorial integrity of a country is incompatible with the purposes and principles of the Charter of the United Nations.’ Any attempt by the colony of Gibraltar to establish itself as an independent nation would disrupt the national unity and the territorial integrity of Spain. The crucial UN decision with reference to Gibraltar was the adoption of Resolution 2353 in December 1967 which gave primacy to Spain’s claim to the restoration of its territorial integrity over Gibraltar’s claim to the right to self-determination.
Mr Cameron should stop trying to obfuscate and ensure that the UK honours its commitments to Spain under the Brussels Process with respect to the long overdue decolonisation of Gibraltar.
Further Beyond’s ‘cut and paste’ job again
FurtherBeyond obviously has problems with comprehension.
Resolution 1514 refers only to those territories and countries undergoing decolonisation, and the 6th declaration in 1514 is there specifically to stop such territories being dismembered as they undergo decolonisation, when they are most vulnerable. This in fact reinforces the right to self determination for the peoples of non self governing territories. Resolution 1514 does not limit the right to self determination in any way.
Furthermore, every UN resolution relevant to Gibraltar references the UN Charter either directly or indirectly, where the right to self determination is a key principle, and many of the UN resolutions specifically covering Gibraltar reference Resolution 1514 directly. It’s crystal clear that the people of Gibraltar have a right to self determination.
Decolonisation does not mean a transfer to Spain. There is absolutely nothing in any UN document which suggests that Gibraltar is or should rightfully be Spanish territory.
The UK did not disrupt Spanish territory by “implanting” a population on Gibraltar. Spain ceded Gibraltar to the UK by treaty, so any settlement there organised by the UK could not possibly have been a disruption of Spanish territorial integrity.
Only a fantasist could draw the conclusion FurtherBeyond does regarding Resolution 2353. Spain has a claim to Gibraltar, this is blocking Gibraltar’s progress to decolonisation. In that resolution (and others) the UN is simply asking the UK and Spain to resolve their differences to that Gibraltar can progress to decolonisation.
As for the Brussels Process, that was superseded by the Cordoba Agreement, and Spain can’t even deliver what it agreed to under the Cordoba Agreement.
Ref Further Beyond
It is incomprehensible that someone nowadays can talk about a return of a territory without taking into account the people who have lived there for over 300 years.Longer, in fact, than the U.S.A has existed as a nation. Perhaps Further Beyond could make a case to return North America to the Native Indians
Again ref Further Beyond
If Further and Beyond takes a look at a Gibraltarian telephone directory or visits the Gibraltar cemetery he or she will notice the vast variety of names from all corners of the globe. This reflects the number of people,who. over hundreds of years have made Gibraltar their home. They have come out of choice and definitely not been “implanted”. And they keep coming, seeing how neighbouring countries are experiencing a deep crisis whereas Gibraltar is prospering.
Gibraltar is a harmonious microcosom of the world and not the artificial implanted Anglo-Saxon colonials some quarters suggest.