June 12 - SDGG Chairman Addresses UN
Denis Matthews of the Self-Determination for Gibraltar Group has addressed the UN Decolonisation Committee of 24 in New York.
Mr Matthews started by explaining the history of the Gibraltarian people saying that immigrant communities from Malta and Genoa settled in Gibraltar and have together created a community with a “unique identity” that repudiates Spain’s claim.
Mr Matthews went on to argue that the fact that successive generations have made Gibraltar their home shows that there exists an “undeniable right to say that Gibraltar is our land.”
He also repeated the key message that Gibraltar’s people have an “indisputable and inalienable right to self-determination” calling any attempt to ignore the wishes of Gibraltarians “archaic” and reminding the committee that the Spanish claim had already been rejected in two referendums.
Mr Matthews said that there was a media campaign in Spain to blacken Gibraltar’s name by accusing it of acting as a centre for money laundering and tax evasion even though Gibraltar had signed 26 Tax Information Exchange Agreements.
He also criticized the Committee for appearing to be “unable or unwilling to help Gibraltar progress towards decolonization,” citing the fact the Committee has not yet offered any view as to whether Gibraltar’s new Constitution achieves decolonialisation nor has it offered Gibraltar any advice on how to achieve this status.
He concluded his speech by saying that Gibraltar felt “ignored and neglected” and he repeated an invitation for the Committee to send a mission to Gibraltar to “assess for themselves the reality of our identity as a people and to gauge the strength of feeling of Gibraltarians.”
