Jun 14 - SDGG Chairman's Address To United Nations Committee Of 24
This is the text of today’s address to the UN’s Committee of 24 by Richard Buttigieg, Chairman of the SDGG.
Good afternoon Mr Chairman and members of the Committee.
I thank you for the opportunity afforded to me to address you all.
It has been almost one year to the date since I last appeared before this Committee. I am afraid to say that, unfortunately, this Committee has not done anything at all in connection with the issue of Gibraltar (as it is referred to in these circles) during this time.
To date, you continue to refuse to send a visiting mission to Gibraltar so that it can experience first hand the treatment to which we are subjected to by the Kingdom of Spain.
If you came to Gibraltar you would be able to see how Spanish police and customs vessels continuously trespass British Gibraltar Territorial Waters - to the point that quite recently a United Kingdom Royal Navy vessel was forced to fire warning flares across the bow of a reckless Guardia Civil vessel when it got too near to a visiting US Navy ship, which US Navy ship was manoeuvring well within British Gibraltar Territorial Waters.
The visiting mission would perhaps also be able to see the unjustified and unreasonable restriction of vehicular and pedestrian flow that Spain arbitrarily imposes at the Gibraltar-Spain frontier in clear contravention of the freedom of movement of people and goods.
If they had been there only last month, they could have seen how the Spanish authorities impeded the plane that was flying England’s Minister for Foreign Affairs to Gibraltar from flying over Spanish airspace. Clearly not the behaviour of a supposed NATO allay and particularly shocking when one considers that the Spanish Caretaker Government has no issue allowing Russian war ships to dock in Spanish land very near to Gibraltar.
If you saw these things for yourself, perhaps those visiting would be able to report back to this Committee so that the rhetoric you have just heard from the Spanish delegation could be put in context and their lies exposed.
You would also be able to see for yourselves that, contrary to what the current Spanish caretaker government asserts, we are not a “parasitic nation” comprised of a “pre-fabricated” community.
Instead, you would see that Gibraltar and the Gibraltarians are part of a vibrant, tolerant and peaceful culture that very much wishes to have a cordial and friendly relationship with Spain. We are nevertheless also a very proud and steadfast people with a passionate and unwavering loyalty to our homeland and our identity. So we shall never allow our wishes and aspirations to be trampled upon by an undemocratic bully who seems to think that we will one day yield to their demands simply by repeating them at nauseam.
This Committee has unfortunately also neglected its duty viz a viz Gibraltar because it has still not replied to a question first posed to it over 10 years ago. Which is, what, if anything, must Gibraltar do to its Constitution so that the UN finally has the courage to remove Gibraltar from the UN list of colonies. We remain patiently waiting for some guidance.
We ask because the Gibraltar 2006 Constitution provides Gibraltar with a level of self-governance that is not akin to that of a colony. Our relationship with the United Kingdom is also non-colonial in nature. If these factors are not enough for the Committee to recommend Gibraltar’s removal from the United Nations list of colonies, however, please tell us what else we need to do. What you should not continue to do is ignore us whilst advocating that you wish to see the end of colonisation for Gibraltar.
Exactly 10 days from today, my country will be facing a seminal moment in its political history. Together with the rest of the United Kingdom we will be participating in a referendum which will decide whether the United Kingdom (and therefore Gibraltar) remain within the European Union.
If the result of the referendum is that the United Kingdom has to leave the EU, it will have a profound impact on Gibraltar and its current way of life for many varied reasons. Unbelievably given the day and age in which we live, one of the main threats Gibraltar will face comes from Spain. José Manuel García-Margallo the Minister for Foreign Affairs of the Spanish caretaker Government has already stated publicly that, should the United Kingdom vote out of the European Union, Spain would seek to discuss Gibraltar’s sovereignty the very next day.
This comes from the same man who taunts United Kingdom officials when he meets them by saying Gibraltar is Spanish. Somewhat rich coming from a person whose party cannot even form a government to run a country. But such statements do not unduly concern the Gibraltarian because, like many before him, Señor Margallo and his right wing policies will long be forgotten in political obscurity, before Gibraltar ever ceases to be British.
But this Committee should not be under any false illusions. When Señor Margallo says the things he does he very much means them as a threat. In his mind, Gibraltar should cease to be British or should have its sovereignty shared without any regard for the wishes of the people of Gibraltar. Because if he cared one iota for the latter, he would heed the results of two referenda in which the Gibraltarian people have overwhelmingly rejected the notion of joint sovereignty with Spain, with 99% of the electorate voting against it on both occasions.
So what Señor Margallo really means with his statements, is that Gibraltar does not really matter and that the principles of democracy and self-determination can be completely disregarded as long as Spain can continue to pursue its hopeless, anachronistic and irredentist claim over the Rock of Gibraltar.
I honestly do not know what it will take for the Kingdom of Spain to finally accept that Gibraltar belongs to the Gibraltarians, that Gibraltar is immensely proud to be British and that the people of Gibraltar will never ever capitulate. One would have thought that the Caretaker Foreign Minister’s or Caretaker Spanish Government’s time would be much better served trying to form a government once and for all but it seems that Gibraltar continues to be a useful smokescreen for their underachieving politicians.
But the Gibraltarian’s do not lose hope. We are far too resolute for that to happen. We continue to fight our battles and to enjoy our small victories. Just recently, for example, Gibraltar was accepted into FIFA in spite of the huge lobbying campaign carried out by Spain in an attempt to prevent this. Achieving this was not easy and, as was the case when Gibraltar was admitted into UEFA, it followed a ruling by the Court of Arbitration for Sport.
Perhaps that is the answer for the United Nations. For it to be forced by the International Court of Justice to remove Gibraltar from the UN list of colonies. Gibraltar is very much willing to test the strength of its case before the ICJ but unfortunately such proceedings cannot take place unless the Kingdom of Spain agrees to them.
One would have thought that they would have jumped at the opportunity to achieve what they have obstinately sought for over 300 years but it does not do so. Perhaps there is some sort of perverse pride to be derived by Gibraltar from the fact that such a powerful nation as Spain is unwilling to test their case in court. But it is a sad indictment of its democratic credentials (or the lack of them) that Spain denies the Gibraltarians the right of self-determination because it does not consider us a people, but it does not have the courage of its convictions to test that in court.
But in the face of adversity the Gibraltarian grows stronger. Since it became British in 1704, Gibraltar has survived three military sieges perpetrated or instigated by Spain. One could argue it has also survived a political siege for over 50 years now, which included General Franco’s attempt to suffocate Gibraltar through the unilateral closure of the frontier between Gibraltar and Spain. So we have become accustomed to suffering the wrath of a Spain which has to frustratingly witness our continued progression and growth. All they achieve is to galvanise our sense of patriotism and to forge an even stronger Gibraltarian identity.
Their tantrums are understandable however. It must not be easy for Spain to see us prospering in spite of their best efforts to hinder this; to see Gibraltar accepted into international organisations such as UEFA and most recently FIFA; to see us increasingly praised as a transparent and compliant financial centre; to have the United Kingdom hold us up to other territories as an example of a Nation successfully fighting corruption head on.
And it is perhaps having to swallow those bitter pills that compels our neighbours to artificially create hour long queues at the frontier between Gibraltar and Spain (in clear contravention of EU laws of Freedom of Movement of people); what compels them to accuse us of being a tax haven in spite of overwhelming evidence to the contrary and positive endorsements from the likes of the International Monetary Fund or the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development; what makes Spain’s Caretaker Minister for Justice boycott an anti-corruption summit just because Gibraltar is invited to it (although this could also have been due to it being slightly embarrassing for a Spanish politician to participate in such a forum when the subject matter of the same is a sensitive and very much active issue in their own country).
Mr Chairman, esteemed members of the Committee, I have said this before and will say it again. Please do not see us as secessionists. We are most certainly not. We do not seek to create any conflict or division whatsoever. We would love to live in harmony with our Spanish neighbours and to provide even greater prosperity than we already do to nearby Spain. All we ask for is to be recognised as a people with the right to decide our own future for ourselves.
And, as I say, we will not lose hope because we believe that justice will one day prevail. Who knows, perhaps it may even start to happen soon after 27th June if Spain manages to form a government at the second time of asking.
If not, the resolve of the people of Gibraltar will remain as solid as the Rock which we have inhabited for over three centuries. Our British Rock of Gibraltar. Our land. Our home. Our Nation.
And as John F Kennedy said:
“Let every nation know, whether it wishes us well or ill, that we shall pay any price, bear any burden, meet any hardship, support any friend, oppose any foe, to assure the survival and the success of liberty.”
Thank you all for your time.
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