MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Strong Spanish lobbying before G 24 limits self determination

The extent of indifference, political pragmatism and sustained pressure with lobbying from Spain which led to the UN Decolonization Committee of 24 adopting a Grenada seminar report that effectively recognizes territorial integrity arguments as a bar to self-determination, has emerged.

Records obtained by the Gibraltar Chronicle show that the chair of the Committee Margaret Ferrari argued to the last for the primacy of self-determination. She failed. Under the chairmanship of Cuba Mrs Ferrari declared that the right of self-determination of all peoples should be enshrined. There was only one outstanding issue as the C24 drafting committee met in a tense session. This was regarding the Conclusions and Recommendations of the Grenada Seminar and that this is in relation to the bracketed words in paragraph 1 (7) of the document, i.e. the attempt to place a limitation on the right to self-determination where there is a dispute over sovereignty. "My delegation's (St Vincent and the Grenadines) position on this is well-known since it was clearly formulated in Grenada and thus needs no repetition here. I thought then, and I still believe now, that it is important for this Committee, in particular, to protect and respect the principle of the right to self-determination enshrined in Chapter 1 (Purposes and Principles) of the United Nations Charter," a transcript obtained by the Chronicle states. It continues: "As Chair of the Special Committee, I felt that it was incumbent on me to lead the way in respecting this principle: For this I personally have had to pay a heavy price. Please let me assure you that, in trying to uphold this principle, I was not following any political agenda but was instead attempting to do the right thing by those small Non-Self-Governing Territories which look to this Committee for help". Mrs. Ferrari recalled that at the beginning of the drafting Committee?s work in Grenada, there had been overwhelming support for this principled position. "But, sadly, Mr. Chairman, this support seems to have evaporated as quickly as snow on a summer's day". She went on to tell the Committee that her delegation (St Vincent and the Grenadines) stands by its position on the principle of the right of people to self-determination but added that "notwithstanding this if we are the sole supporters of this right, we will not stand in the way of consensus on the document". In a second statement made just prior to the adoption of the Grenada Report by the Committee at its final meeting a spokesperson for Saint Vincent and the Grenadines reiterated that St Vincent strongly supports the right of peoples to self-determination and stressed that this is "a right that is enshrined in the Charter of the United Nations and which has been reinforced and reaffirmed by General Assembly resolutions and also resolutions adopted by this Committee". They added: "We do not believe that it is appropriate for this Committee, much less attendees at a Seminar, to undermine this principle which is also a fundamental human right. Notwithstanding this we have taken the decision not to impede consensus on the Grenada Seminar report because it is just that, a Report of a Seminar containing Conclusions and Recommendations. Nothing more". On June 29 the Gibraltar Parliament passed a motion urging Britain to allow the C24 to pay an official mission visit to Gibraltar.