Spain has not challenged our claim that we are a genuine people with our own identity

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 Monday, September 13, 2021 - 09:32
Spain has not challenged our claim that we are a genuine people with our own identity

by SIR JOE BOSSANO
I am delighted to share with the people of Gibraltar the exciting news of what took place in Dominica after I delivered my U.N. speech and to thank those who have put comments in support of the views and sentiments of the speech, which is what I've been arguing at the UN since I started going there as Chief Minister against the wishes of the UK government at the time and with the objective of killing off the Brussels process, which is now as good as dead.


My first visit was after an absence of a Gibraltarian view of twenty-five years when only Spain’s were heard at the U.N.
One of the most important things we have needed to achieve at the UN has been the recognition of our status as the people of the territory, the Gibraltarian people.
Achieving that will not get rid of the obstacle that is the Spanish claim, which will still be there.
But unless we are recognised as the people of the territory, we are not in a position to claim the right to self-determination.
The great news that I want to share is that the exchanges at the Dominica seminar may well have resulted in the delivery of that recognition.
At the same time, I want to reassure you, about the nature of my trip, which was no Caribbean holiday.
The travelling arrangements were going to London, from London to Barbados, from Barbados to St Lucia and from St Lucia to Dominica.
Participating in the following three days of debates and then making the journey back, which in fact proved to be quite difficult as there was a strike on the day the plane was due to leave in the morning after the closure of the seminar.

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