FULL TEXT OF SPEECH DELIVERED BY CHIEF MINISTER, FABIAN PICARDO

Wednesday, October 5, 2022 - 09:58
Mr Chair, It is an honour to address you. I am here as the directly elected political representative of the people of Gibraltar. I am the fourth to address you since the 1960s.
Pre-pandemic, we travelled to New York each year to remind you that the Special Committee on Decolonisation and this Special Political and Decolonisation Committee have outstanding obligations to the People of Gibraltar. Because the People of Gibraltar undoubtedly enjoy the inalienable right of self-determination under international law.1 And in accordance with international law and your obligations to the People of Gibraltar, our decolonisation must be achieved exclusively through the application of the principle of selfdetermination. That is to say, our decolonisation can be completed only in keeping with our wishes and aspirations as a people. And in this pending exercise, there is no role for any party other than the United Nations, the Administering Power, the United Kingdom and us, the People of the Non-Self-Governing Territory. We have repeatedly invited the C24 to visit Gibraltar to better understand the situation of our people, but they have never done so.2   MORE IN PANORAMA PRINT EDITION   05-10-22 PANORAMAdailyGIBRALTAR Picardo urges UN to respect Gibraltar’s self-determination