Chief Minister Addresses UN Fourth Committee For Final Time

Chief Minister Fabian Picardo addressed the UN Fourth Committee in New York for the final time as Chief Minister of Gibraltar, reflecting on 25 years of Gibraltar’s participation before the United Nations.

A statement from the Government follows below:

The Chief Minister, the Hon Fabian Picardo KC MP, has addressed the Fourth Committee of the United Nations General Assembly in New York for the final time as Chief Minister of Gibraltar. 

In his address, the Chief Minister reflected on twenty-five years of attending the United Nations and on the consistent case made before the UN by successive generations of Gibraltar’s political leaders. This year also marks eighty years since Gibraltar was first placed on the United Nations list of Non Self-Governing Territories. 

Mr Picardo reiterated Gibraltar’s position that the right of the people of Gibraltar to self determination must remain the governing principle of its decolonisation. He recalled the overwhelming results of the 1967 and 2002 referenda and called on the United Nations to act in accordance with the freely and clearly expressed wishes of the Gibraltarians. 

The Chief Minister also addressed the historic change that has taken place since his previous appearance before the Committee, following the signing and provisional application of the UK–EU Treaty in respect of Gibraltar. 

He highlighted that the Treaty has enabled the removal of the physical frontier barriers while expressly preserving the respective positions on sovereignty, demonstrating that Gibraltar can build a close and constructive relationship with Spain without compromising its rights. 

Mr Picardo called on the Fourth Committee to end the continued reliance on outdated decisions and to direct the Committee of 24 to send a visiting mission to Gibraltar, with a view to recommending Gibraltar’s removal from the list of Non-Self-Governing Territories. 

Concluding his final address as Chief Minister, Mr Picardo reflected on the generations of Gibraltarians who have defended and developed Gibraltar and reaffirmed that its people’s right to self-determination is inalienable. 

The Chief Minister said: “You may outlast this Chief Minister. But you will never outlast the people of Gibraltar. And let me give you some advice. After 80 years, its time to wake up and smell the coffee. Gibraltar belongs ONLY to the Gibraltarians. It always has. And it always will.”

Below follows his final address:

Chair, 

This is my twenty-fifth autumn in this room.  

A quarter of a century. 

When I first came here, in 2002, I was thirty years old.  I sat behind the great Sir Joe Bossano.  

I did not say a word. 

I listened and I learnt. 

Twenty five years on. 

Having addressed you 15 times, I speak to you for the last time as  Chief Minister of Gibraltar. 

And I do so in a year that history will not let us ignore.  

Because this December, it will be eighty years since Gibraltar was  first placed on the UN list of Non-Self-Governing Territories. 

Eighty years. 

Four Chief Ministers of Gibraltar have come before the United  Nations to make our people’s case. 

Sir Joshua Hassan came first, in 1963, to tell you Gibraltar is OURS. Sir Joe Bossano brought us back in 1992. 

He promised we would keep coming until you acted on our freely  expressed wishes as a people.

Sir Peter Caruana rightly told you, for 16 years, that you should treat  the self-determination of our people as paramount. 

And I have addressed you, as Leader of the Opposition in 2011 and  as Chief Minister every year I could since, to tell you the same thing  in my own words. 

Eight decades on your list.  

Six decades of speeches. 

Four successive leaders.  

One consistent message. 

Because the international legal principles governing our  decolonization have not changed.  

And neither have we. 

So let me state the law, plainly, one last time. 

Article 73 of the Charter makes the interests of the inhabitants of a  Non-Self-Governing Territory paramount.  

Not the interests of any neighbour.  

Or of any claimant.  

Only the people of a territory. 

US. 

The People of Gibraltar.

Article 1 of both International Covenants, extended to Gibraltar fifty  years ago, declares that all peoples have the right of self determination. 

Resolution 1514 also says ‘all peoples’.  

Not some.  

All. 

Resolution 1541 says the obligation to transmit information in respect  of a territory applies when the territory is ‘separate’ and ‘distinct’ from  its administering power.  

A State that merely claims such a territory and has no legal ties of  territorial sovereignty with it and has no standing in its decolonization. 

And the International Court of Justice, in the cases of Namibia and  Western Sahara, and in its Chagos opinion of 2019, has made these  principles clear.  

The right of self-determination is the governing principle of  decolonization. 

It requires the free and genuine expression of the will of the people  concerned;  

And the international community as a whole has an obligation to  ensure that the right is fulfilled.  

Territorial integrity, properly understood, is a shield for colonized  peoples. 

It is not a sword in the hands of expansionist neighbours – whether  in Southern Europe, South America or elsewhere. 

What stands against all of our unbeatable legal arguments? Nothing but resolutions of the 1960s. 

Resolutions procured by a murderous dictator whose legacy  democratic Spain has rightly left behind. 

And the people of Gibraltar have spoken. 

In 1967, ninety-nine per cent of us chose not to pass under Spanish  sovereignty.  

In 2002, ninety-nine per cent of us rejected shared sovereignty with  Spain. 

We have been asked.  

We have clearly and unequivocally answered.  

All we await is for you to hear our answers. 

And to start acting in keeping with the clearly expressed wishes of  the people of Gibraltar.  

Chair, since I last addressed you, something important has changed. 

The Treaty between the United Kingdom and the European Union in  respect of Gibraltar has now been signed and is being provisionally  applied. 

It was negotiated at our request and with my Government leading for  our people at the table.  

It removed a short but no less cruel iron curtain that General Franco  drew closed to divide families and friends. 

And our Treaty states, in terms, that nothing in it affects the positions  on sovereignty. 

So understand what we have done.  

We have removed the barbed wire and the chain link fence.  But we have not waivered on our sacrosant sovereignty. 

We have shown that our people can build friendship with its  neighbour without surrendering a single one of our rights. 

Cooperation we welcome.  

But we will never capitulate.  

Chair, I ask this Committee for two things. 

First, stop recycling, year after year, a stale decision written for  another age. 

Second, direct the C24 to send a visiting mission.  

Let them come and see a self-governing, democratic, prosperous  people.  

Confident in who we are.

And confident in our rights.  

And then do what the Charter requires:  

Recommend our removal from this list. 

Chair, I was born in 1972, behind a frontier closed by a military  dictator to break our democratic will. 

It did not break. 

My parents’ generation kept our country alive.  

My generation built it into a modern nation.  

And our children's generation will inherit that nation with clearly  established, inalienable rights. 

I came to this room first as a young man who listened avidly. I leave it as a father who has spoken passionately. 

With children who understand clearly.  

Because, you can keep us on the list of Non-Self-Governing  Territories. 

You can pretend that institutional inertia in the C-24 excuses you from  acting.  

But you cannot deny us our right to self-determination. You may outlast this Chief Minister. 

But you will never outlast the people of Gibraltar.

Because Gibraltar belongs ONLY to the Gibraltarians.  It always has.  

And it always will. 

Thank you, Chair.  

And goodbye. 

For now…