Richard Buttigieg, the Chairman of the SDGG, delivered a speech to the UN Decolonisation Committee:

Good afternoon Madame Chair and members of the Committee and thank you for the opportunity to address you.

Most of you will be aware that a Brexit related agreement has been reached between the European Union and the United Kingdom in respect of Gibraltar.

The starting point is simple but critical: Gibraltar has been treated as requiring a bespoke international agreement, separate from both the United Kingdom and the European Union’s general framework. 

We have therefore been recognised—because we could not be ignored.

The structure of the agreement confirms it. The Parties are defined as the European Union and the United Kingdom “in respect of Gibraltar.” That formulation acknowledges that this agreement operates through Gibraltar’s own institutions, Gibraltar’s own laws, and Gibraltar’s own lived reality. Indeed, the agreement expressly recognises that the ‘Parties’ laws’ includes the laws of Gibraltar.

This is not the language of administration.
It is the language of a jurisdiction.
It is the language of a people governing themselves.

They are the everyday expressions of what Gibraltar is: a society that makes its own decisions, takes responsibility for its own future, and protects its own way of life.

On the issue of sovereignty.

Article 2 of the treaty makes clear that nothing in the agreement affects the positions of the United Kingdom or Spain.

Some might say that this limits the significance of the agreement.

But for us, it does something far more important. It sets that dispute aside - and allows the reality of Gibraltar today to speak for itself.

Because once sovereignty is set aside, what remains?

What remains is Gibraltar as it actually exists: a community with its own institutions, its own laws, its own responsibilities, and its own voice.

And that is where the real significance lies.

Gibraltar is treated as:

That is not theory. That is evidence.

And for the people of Gibraltar, it resonates at a deeper level. Because we know- not from reading a treaty, but from living it - that we are not a relic of the past. We are not an unresolved footnote of history.

We are a modern, self‑governing community.
We have voted time and again for our future.
We have forged an identity that is both British and uniquely Gibraltarian.

And now, in this agreement, that lived reality is reflected back to us - quietly, implicitly, but unmistakably.

The Treaty reflects a relationship based on cooperation, not control; on capability, not dependency; on respect, not assumption.

And so, we are left with an important question—not just for lawyers, not just for governments, but for the international community:

If Gibraltar governs itself, regulates itself, sustains itself, and is treated in international agreements as a distinct and capable jurisdiction - on what principled basis can it still be described as a colony?

That is not an emotional question, but a deeply human one for us.

Because behind every article of this agreement are the people of Gibraltar - our families, our history, our future.

We do not ask for special treatment.
We ask for honest recognition.
We ask that the lived reality of our people be given the legal weight it deserves.

Because the question is no longer whether Gibraltar has evolved.

The question is whether the international community and this Committee in particular is prepared to recognise that it has.

Thank you.