MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

New constitution makes Gibraltar/UK relation not colonial

Gibraltar Chief Minister Peter Caruana told the UK House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee that he believes that the New Constitution provides for a relationship between Gibraltar and the United Kingdom which is not colonial in nature.

In a written submission to the Committee into the state of Britain's Overseas Territories Caruana argues that the nature and extent of the powers of self government and autonomy that the new Constitution bestows on Gibraltar are not compatible with the view that the relationship remains a colonial one and that Gibraltar therefore remains a colony. He points out that the British Government shares this view and has so declared publicly. The lengthy submission sets out legal arguments to illustrate the impact of the new Constitution on Gibraltar's governance and sets out as a fundamental that, under the Gibraltar Constitution and under UK law, the Governor is the representative in Gibraltar of Her Majesty the Queen, as Queen of Gibraltar. "He is not a representative or official of HMG in the UK," he says adding that powers reserved in the Constitution of Overseas Territories to Her Majesty or Her Governor are thus not powers reserved to the UK Government or to the FCO. "The new Constitution renders Gibraltar effectively self governing to a full practical extent in all areas except defense and external affairs. The stated policy objective of the current Gibraltar Government since 1996 has been to achieve effective decolonisation of Gibraltar by means of Constitutional reform that would establish a Constitutional relationship between Gibraltar and the UK that was not colonial in nature, while retaining our sovereignty and other links with the UK. The Gibraltar Government believes that the new Constitution achieves this," says the submission. "There can be no doubt about what is Gibraltar's international status. After the new Constitution (as before it) Gibraltar remains a United Kingdom Overseas Territory under the Sovereignty of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II. This international status has not altered as a result of the New Constitution, although its nature has changed in a very relevant way," says the submission. Mr Caruana states that in terms of decolonisation, the relevant question is whether the relationship between the UK and Gibraltar has changed from colonial to non-colonial in nature. "If it has, the new Constitution has necessarily resulted in the decolonisation of Gibraltar since, although Gibraltar continues (as is its wish) to be a UK Overseas Territory, it is no longer in a colonial relationship with the UK. But the statement adds that the answer to the question whether or not the new Constitution has decolonized Gibraltar will vary depending on whose definition of, and criteria for, decolonisation is used. "Clearly, if the sole valid test of decolonisation is that applied by the United Nations (a proposition that GOG rejects) then Gibraltar remains a colony, because the new Constitution fails to meet some if the UN published criteria for removing territories from its list of non-self Governing Territories. For this reason, both GOG and HMG believe that the UN delisting/decolonisation criteria are anachronistic, and should be updated to reflect the realities of the modern relationship between UK and some of its overseas Territories (such as Gibraltar) with which both are content, and which relationship is not colonial in nature". "If, on the other hand the test to be applied is (as Gibraltar Government believes) an objective assessment of whether the relationship created by the New Constitution is not colonial in nature, so that there has been an emergence from colonial relationship in a practical sense, then a very different answer is obtained. The UN can of course be the arbiter of whatever criteria it chooses to adopt, but it is not the sole judge of objectivity and logic and of factual reality. It is not the sole judge of whether a relationship desired by both sides is colonial in nature or not." The submission says that in the view of both the UK and Gibraltar governments, the New Constitution alters the balance of power in Gibraltar, and transfers to the Gibraltar Government and out of UK's control, "that degree of power and functions that render the relationship non-colonial in nature. If Gibraltar's relationship with the UK is now non-colonial in nature, Gibraltar is not a colony and has been decolonized". Finally Mr Caruana told the FAC that under UN Charter and procedures, the UK is required to continue to submit annual reports under Article 73(e) of the Charter until the General Assembly votes in favor of the removal of that territory from its list of non self governing territories. "It appears that the UK is not free to unilaterally discontinue the submission of annual reports about Gibraltar. The Gibraltar Government has thus called on HMG to make clear in submitting this year's Gibraltar report that it does so for that reason, and asserting that following the new Constitution Gibraltar and the UK are no longer in a colonial relationship with each other and that Gibraltar should thus be de-listed," says the submission.