OCR Text |
Show Voice On Right U. N. Shafts The Rock' The inhabitants of "The Rock" have shown they desire to remain with Great Britain, all that is left for the United Nations to do is support sup-port Britain and the inhabitants of Gibraltar. On September 10, Great Britain issued a referendum to the inhabitants inhabi-tants of Gibraltar. The referendum asked the civilian population of Gibraltar Gi-braltar to decide: Whether they wish to submit to Spanish sovereignty in accordance with the proposals made by the Spanish Government on May 18, 1966. Or whether they wish to remain linked to Great Britain, with the local democratic institutions and with Great Britain retaining its responsibilities re-sponsibilities in Gibraltar. Immediately after this refer- 1 " I , f endum was proposed pro-posed Spain condemned con-demned it, stating stat-ing that in the case if Gibraltar, self - determination determina-tion does not apply. ap-ply. The resulting vote was overwhelmingly over-whelmingly pro-British. pro-British. Despite Jim Schutz however, the United Nations Committee on Colonialism Condemned the resolution. resolu-tion. I would like to ask the Committee Commit-tee why and how they could condemn con-demn such a resolution. I ask this because Article 73 of the United Nations Charter on Colonial Territories Ter-ritories states that "the interests of he inhabitants of a non-self-governing territory are paramount." Anyone could safely say that the interests of the people of Gibraltar were explicitly stated! Where does the UN get the right to tell the people of Gibraltar their preference has no bearing in the matter. What this demonstrates is the UN has gone overboard in their never-ending fight against colonialism and imperialism. In 1713 Great Britain annexed Gibraltar under the terms of the Treaty of Utrecht. Up until the Second World War, she was a key military post for the defense of the British Empire. Since the globe has become more a tactical, instead of strategic, theatre, Gibraltar has lost its military significance. Great Britain's interest now lies with the people. As Sir Joshua Hassan, the Chief Minister for the "Rock" pointed out, "We have a life of our own which is not Spanish." So why must Britain decolonize? There is no reason to do so, as a matter of fact there is reason not to! This was clearly illustrated by the referendum mentioned above. |