Disputed Status of Gibraltar

Disputed Status Of Gibraltar

Gibraltar is a British overseas territory, near the southernmost tip of the Iberian peninsula, which is the subject of a disputed irredentist claim by Spain.

Gibraltar was captured in 1704, during the War of the Spanish Succession (1701–1714). Spain formally ceded the territory in perpetuity to the British Crown in 1713, under Article X of the Treaty of Utrecht. This was confirmed in later treaties signed in Paris and Seville. Spain later attempted to recapture the territory militarily by a number of failed sieges, and reclamation of the territory by peaceful means remains its government's policy.

The Gibraltarians themselves reject any such claim and no political party or pressure group in Gibraltar supports union with Spain. In a referendum in 2002 the people of Gibraltar soundly rejected a joint sovereignty proposal on which Spain and Britain were said to have reached "broad agreement". The British government has stated that it would never "enter into an agreement on sovereignty without the agreement of the Government of Gibraltar and their people".

In 2000, a political declaration of unity was signed by all present and past members of Gibraltar's Parliament. "In essence the declaration stated that the people of Gibraltar will never compromise, give up or trade their sovereignty or their right to self-determination; that Gibraltar wants good, neighbourly, European relations with Spain; and that Gibraltar belongs to the people of Gibraltar and is neither Spain's to claim or Britain's to give away."

The territorial claim was formally reasserted by the Spanish dictator Francisco Franco in the 1960s and has been continued by successive Spanish governments. They have insisted that the Gibraltar dispute is a purely bilateral matter between Britain and Spain, and that the current Gibraltarians are mere settlers whose role and will are irrelevant. This principle appears to have been reflected in the United Nations resolutions on the decolonisation of Gibraltar in the 1960s, which focused on the "interests" and not the "wishes" of the Gibraltarians. Speaking to the UN C24 in 2006, the Chief Minister of Gibraltar, Peter Caruana, stated: "It is well known and documented and accepted by all that, since 1988, Gibraltar has rejected the bilateral Brussels Process, and will never be content with it." Gibraltarians argue that one cannot claim to be acting in the "interests" of a population, while at the same time ignoring its wishes and democratic rights.

In 2002 an agreement in principle on joint sovereignty over Gibraltar between the governments of United Kingdom and Spain was announced. There was a robust campaign against these proposals by the Gibraltarian government and individuals, culminating in their decisive rejection in a referendum. The British Government now refuses to discuss sovereignty without the consent of the Gibraltarians.

With the election of a moderate left-wing government in Spain (2004), a new Spanish position was adopted and, in December 2005, the governments of the UK, Spain and Gibraltar agreed to set up "a new, trilateral process of dialogue outside the Brussels Process" with equal participation by the three parties, any decisions or agreements to be agreed by all three. After meetings in Malaga (Spain), Faro (Portugal) Mallorca (Spain), the Spanish foreign minister Miguel Ángel Moratinos went to Gibraltar in July 2009 to discuss a range of mutual issues. This was the first official Spanish visit since Gibraltar was ceded. The issue of sovereignty was deliberately not discussed.