Luis Ayllón
The Spanish government on Monday once again accused the United Kingdom of repeatedly failing to comply with United Nations mandates on the decolonisation of Gibraltar.
In an intervention before the UN Committee of 24 or Special Committee on Decolonisation, Spain’s permanent representative ambassador to the United Nations, Agustín Santos, expressed Spain’s displeasure at the British attitude and implied that London puts its interest in the continuation of its military base on the Rock before the interests of the Gibraltarians.
Santos, who was dismissed as ambassador yesterday, after it was announced that he will be the number two candidate for Yolanda Díaz’s Sumar coalition in the general elections on 23 July, gave his speech in response to that of Gibraltar’s chief minister, Fabian Picardo, at the same Committee.
The ambassador regretted the persistence of Gibraltar’s colonial situation, which affects Spain’s territorial integrity, and recalled that United Nations Resolution 2353 (XXII) of 1967, concerning the territory of Gibraltar, calls for its decolonisation.
The Spanish representative added that this colonial situation is directly linked to the military use of the territory by the United Kingdom, despite the fact that other resolutions call for the withdrawal of military bases and installations located in non-self-governing territories and for the administering powers – in this case the United Kingdom – to put an end to their military activities and eliminate these bases.
In the face of London’s refusal to comply with these resolutions, the Spanish ambassador suggests that the British interest is fundamentally in preserving the existence of the military base, rather than the interests of the inhabitants of the Rock, stating: “The military use explains the importance that the administering power attaches, in reality, to the defence of the interests of the inhabitants of the aforementioned territory. These same interests were affected by the British decision to leave the European Union, dragging the territory of Gibraltar into a very complex situation from a legal point of view, which the European Union and Spain, on the one hand, and the United Kingdom, on the other, are trying to alleviate, without causing harm either to the inhabitants of the non-self-governing territory, or to those of the neighbouring Spanish area, affected by a colonial situation that generates serious imbalances and inequity”.
Agustín Santos specified that this negotiation does not imply that the United Kingdom is complying with the mandates of the United Nations, and added that if talks on the sovereignty of the territory are not taking place “it is not because Spain is not willing to do so in good faith, and taking into account the interests of the inhabitants of Gibraltar”.
For this reason, he reiterated his call to the United Kingdom “to tackle decolonisation while respecting the principle of territorial integrity; a decolonisation process that should be governed by the United Nations, will not be concluded until the General Assembly so decides, and from which obligations arise for the administering power, which unfortunately it is failing to fulfil”.
The ambassador expressed his confidence that there would be a change of policy on the part of the United Kingdom and insisted on rejecting British pretensions to exercise sovereignty over the waters surrounding the Rock and over the isthmus “illegally occupied in the 19th century”.
Finally, he denounced the area around the colony of Gibraltar for the consequences of its continued existence. It can be affirmed,” he said, “that British colonial action is spreading from the non-self-governing territory to the surrounding area. And he concluded: “We reiterate that none of the practical solutions with which we can alleviate the effects of the colonial situation will replace the only real negotiation that we must address in compliance with the mandates of this Organisation: the end of the colonial situation affecting Spain, which involves the full restitution of our sovereign integrity”.
