Gibraltar in C24 challenges Spain to take disputed waters case to the International Court
Spain is scared to test its “feeble claims” in Court, whether in respect of Gibraltar’s undisputable right to self determination or its undisputable waters. That was the charge made by Gibraltar Chief Minister Fabian Picardo on Friday before the United Nations Committee of 24 as he challenged Madrid to take these issues to the appropriate international courts.
Gibraltar, he made clear, is confident of success. He was equally confident in his assertion that “Gibraltar will never be Spanish”. Spain, he said, should follow Gibraltar into the 21st century and drop its claim.
Mr Picardo joined the United Kingdom in calling on Spain to return to the tripartite ‘table’ which the C24 had previously welcomed. He also condemned recent incidents in British Gibraltar Territorial Waters.
“Every Chief Minister of Gibraltar who has addressed the UN has challenged Spain to take its unsustainable argument about the waters around Gibraltar for an advisory opinion to the International Court of Justice or to the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea, both of which have jurisdiction to determine such disputes.”
“Instead, Spain prefers to pit its Guardia Civil para-military force against Gibraltar Police officers and the Royal Navy,” said Mr Picardo pointing out that after the nine occasions when ‘UNCLOS’ warnings have been given, Spain should follow international law and not escalate the dispute, but rather turn to the International Court of Justice or the International Tribunal of the Law of the Sea to finally settle this matter.
But, referring to a retired Spanish diplomat’s views, those of Jose Antonio de Yturriaga, Mr Picardo said that the Spanish Government knows that its position in respect of British Gibraltar Territorial Waters is wrong and unsustainable in law.
The Chief Minister requested that the C24 should consider whether the 2006 Gibraltar Constitution gives the Rock maximum self-government and, if it falls short of that, to inform Gibraltar what changes are needed to meet the standard of maximum self-government short of independence.
In his speech, his first there as Chief Minister, Mr Picardo reinforced the main principles for Gibraltar which have been restated to the Committee since Joe Bossano started attending in the 1990s when he was Chief Minister, and followed by Peter Caruana. And he recalled that the Gibraltar position had been put to the Committee since the 1960s when Sir Joshua Hassan addressed it.
Self-determination, as opposed to Spain’s assertion of territorial integrity, was the underlying mantra.
“Our decolonisation can progress only on the basis of the exercise by us of our inalienable right to self determination,” said Mr Picardo adding that this cannot be constrained, as Spain argued, because of a sovereignty dispute.
“From the time when you were addressed by the representatives of a fascist regime of General Franco to the modern era of a democratic Spain, very little of substance has changed in the message from Madrid,” Mr Picardo told the C24.
His remark follows Madrid’s diplomat telling the Quito seminar that Spain does not and never will acknowledge any international legal status of the current inhabitants of Gibraltar, much less our right to decide the future of their Gibraltarian land.
In his address Mr Picardo repeated previous invitations to the C24 to formally visit Gibraltar to meet the people and also to hold their seminar on the Rock next time round.
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Although historically different, the argument is boiling down to the same issue - Sovereignty / Territorial Integrity over the basic human right of Self-Determination as in the Falklands.
Saw a comment on another report that summed up perfectly. C24 = Re-Colonisation committee. How true is that.
What was interesting is that he said Spain have some militant group called the something of seville who continuously try to lead spanish fishing and shipping into Gibraltan territory and it's happened lots and lots in the past year.
It's only a matter of time before the Gibraltans/British sink something just to make sure the Spanish get the point that it's not their land, they signed it away.
There seems to be an issue with being true to your word, and speaking the spanish language. They don't seem compatible.
My point was that without the support of the Gibraltarians, Spain is wasting its time. But there is some common ground, and if Spain could strike a deal with Gibraltar, then the UK would happily go along with it.
The elephant in the room is independence, or at least a form of independence. The former Chief Minister flirted with an 'Andorra solution', where both Britain and Spain would have a constitutional role in an independent Gibraltar. An opinion poll in Spain indicated that 60% of Spaniards would support some form of independence for Gibraltar.
Gibraltar may yet become independent, but they need to defend themselves against poorville living next door. This is an issue, and also the Treaty of Utrecht states that it's not allowed independence, as sovereignty returns to Spain.
If I remember my history.
In 1704, an Anglo-Dutch force captured Gibraltar from the Spanish. The Spanish contend that the Spanish population were expelled. In fact, being Spanish, the population fled. Under the terms of the 1713 Treaty of Utrecht, Gibraltar was ceded to Britain in perpetuity. The cession was confirmed in the Treaty of Seville in 1729 and a subsequent treaty signed in Paris. In my view, along the way, Spain abrogated any rights it “might” have had under the Treaty of Utrecht by laying siege to Gibraltar in 1727 and again between 1779-83. Ludicrously, Spain claims that Gibraltar has no territorial waters because they aren't mentioned in the Treaty of Utrecht. Curiously, the same treaty doesn't mention Spanish territorial waters either. Even more curiously, the concept of “territorial waters” off a country's coastline didn't start to gain acceptance until the late 18th century. Generally, the idea was that a country's territorial waters were limited to where the country had a gun that could fire out to sea.
But then nothing from Spain until the 50s and 60s. And a dictator called Franco. And now the Spanish want to carry that on. Denying British Gibraltar Territorial Waters. Illegal incursions. Illegal fishing. Illegal invasions by Spanish paramilitary terrorists.
Does this remind anyone of another bunch of cowardly, dishonest, lying, sneaky, underhand Hispanics?
Spain and Argentina,
Two rotten apples in the same corrupt barrel .
.
You could add that Spain signed up to the 1958 convention on the territorial sea and the 1988 law of the sea convention, under both of which Gibraltar is entitled to territorial waters. And that the so called Spanish “reservation” from the 1988 convention is of no effect, as the convention specifically states that no such reservations can modifdy the convention's provisions.
But perhaps the most telling point is one that Picardo stressed: the Spanish foreign ministry has on many occasions received advice from its own advisers, particularly a now retired ambassador and professor of international law, to the effect that the argument that Gibraltar has no territorial waters is completely wrong.
Got more balls than the two prats we have presently got.
20 I don´t think he has balls the only thing he has is a big ego and Spain
will just continue pounding and making it difficult for these individuals until they come to their senses...Spain wants its land back!!!
Treaty of Utrecht
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Treaty_of_Utrecht
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Disputed status of Gibraltar
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Disputed_status_of_Gibraltar
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UNITED NATIONS: PICARDO CHALLENGES SPAIN TO TAKE SELF-DETERMINATION AND WATERS ISSUES TO INTERNATIONAL COURTS
Spain is scared to test its “feeble claims” in Court, whether in respect of Gibraltar’s undisputable right to self determination or its undisputable waters. That was the charge made by Chief Minister Fabian Picardo yesterday before the United Nations Committee of 24 as he challenged Madrid to take these issues to the appropriate international courts.
Gibraltar, he made clear, is confident of success. He was equally confident in his assertion that “Gibraltar will never be Spanish
www.chronicle.gi/headlines_details.php?id=25165
read it,
Can argentine sunshine actually read English?
l would think that he just copies what his Argentine secret service controller puts in front of him/her/it.
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