Self-Determination. Our Right

In 1704 Gibraltar was taken by a force of Allied states, (including England, the newly-independent Spanish Netherlands, and the 600-year-old Republic of Genoa) which supported the claim of the Austrian Hapsburg family to the vacant throne of Spain, which was also contested by the French Bourbon family. The war in which Gibraltar was taken lasted from 1701 to 1713 being ended by Treaty of Utrecht which granted the crown of Spain to the French Bourbons, but removed many of the strategic and economic assets of the formerly independent Spanish state, sovereignty of Gibraltar being taken by the newly-formed United Kingdom of England and Scotland "in perpetuity". The modern civilian population of Gibraltar is to a great extent descended from the Genoese troops who settled here and brought their families to join them. To accelerate the process of decolonisation, the General Assembly in 1960 adopted the Declaration on the Granting of Independence to Colonial Countries and Peoples (Declaration on decolonisation) which proclaims that the subjection of people to alien subjugation, domination and exploitation constitutes a denial of fundamental human rights. It affirms that all peoples have the right to self-determination. In September 1963 the UN Committee of 24 asked for lists of territories to be decolonised by the then "Colonial Powers". France consulted its overseas populations and decided with them that most of the overseas territories would be integrated into metropolitan France as "Territories D'Outremer" or "Departments D'Outremer", (making them now integral parts of the EU) the UK neglectfully presented a list of every territory without consulting the populations. Following further neglect by the Colonial Office, (predecessor to the Foreign & Commonwealth Office) to present the British case, on 16 October 1964 the Committee of 24 reached a consensus in the case of Gibraltar.

Welcome to the site of the Self-Determination for Gibraltar Group.

The Group was founded in 1992 to campaign for the recognition of the right of the Gibraltarians to Self-Determination, i.e. to decide our constitutional status, in our only home, Gibraltar.

Self-Determination. Our Right (Contd.)

It decided a consideration in the dispute was the 'restoration' of the territorial integrity of Spain. In 1967 the people of Gibraltar participated in a referendum to decide their future given Spain's claim to integrate the Rock against the wishes of the Gibraltarians. The result was a rejection of constitutional links with Spain by 12,108 votes to 44. Following intense lobbying at the UN by Spain, and inaction at the UN by the Colonial Office, on 18 December 1968 the General Assembly asked Britain to decolonise Gibraltar in accordance with the territorial integrity of Spain not later than the 1 October 1969. Gibraltar negotiated a new Constitution with the UK which was implemented in June 1969 (the Gibraltar Constitution 1969). The UN Charter on decolonisation by its resolution 2625 XXV of 24 October 1970 advocated to decolonisation through the emergence of "Any other political status" freely determined b the inhabitants of the Non Self-Governing Territory. In 1973 Gibraltar entered the EEC with Britain under article 227(4) of the Treaty of Rome, as "a European Territory for whose external affairs a Member State is responsible". In 1980 the British and Spanish Governments signed the Lisbon Agreement. This Agreement gave Spain hope since Britain agreed to talk under the UN resolutions of 1964. In 1984 the British and Spanish Governments agreed under a declaration reached in Brussels to negotiate all differences related to Gibraltar again, in accordance with UN resolutions of 1964. The position of the Gibraltarians can be safeguarded in many ways but all require the recognition of our right to Self-Determination at a time when the basic consensus of the world leaders is that in disputed territories the wishes of the inhabitants is the best and most democratic principled method to settle differences. This is enshrined in the UN charter on Decolonisation. On the 27th of February 2002 the Gibraltar Parliament unanimously approved a New Constitution.