Cayman Islands NGOs accuse Britain of deception

Tuesday, June 29, 2004

GEORGE TOWN, Cayman Islands: A delegation from the Cayman Islands Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs) recently addressed the United Nations Special Committee of 24 (C24) on Decolonisation in New York and claimed that there had been "misleading representations" by the British Government dating back to the 1960s regarding its obligations under various UN resolutions dealing with self-determination.

A letter written by Mr Bill Rammell, Parliamentary Under Secretary of State in the British Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) preceding the meeting of the British Overseas Territories (OTs) Consultative Council meeting in London in December 2003, was presented to the C24.

In his letter to the elected leaders of each of the OTs, Mr Rammell contradicted an earlier FCO statement of July 2003, which confirmed for the first time that the UK acknowledged that there are "three, possibly four options" available to the OTs for self-determination and which they had failed to communicate as part of the constitutional review process.

"We believe this effort by the U.K. to circumvent its international obligations demonstrates why the NGO Constitutional Working Group is appealing to the C24 to remain steadfast in its commitment to continuing dialogue and discussions with our Administering Power, the U.K., and the OTs," said Pastor Al Ebanks, speaking on behalf of the Cayman Islands delegation.

The Working Group appealed to the C24 to introduce educational programmes to inform the people of the Cayman Islands and other Non-Self-Governing Territories (NSGTs) of their options for self-determination in their relationships to their Administering Powers and the development of their constitutions.

The delegation announced plans to host an Overseas Territories Constitutional Forum in the Cayman Islands in September and sought the C24's assistance with funding and sourcing of experts.

They also appealed to the C24 to reject the attempts by the British Government to de-list the Cayman Islands from the list of NSGTs without any clear evidence that such action is in keeping with the democratically expressed wishes of the people of the Cayman Islands.

The delegation appealed to the C24 to implement its Action Plan that was approved in June 2003. That Action Plan included visiting missions to the OTs, holding regular meetings with the Administering Powers and the OTs and conducting public and media education programmes about the self-determination options.

The delegation urged the C24 to include the Cayman Islands on its list of visiting missions for the upcoming year. During question time, the C24 confirmed that the Cayman Islands were included on the list of visiting missions for the year subject to a request being received by the C24 from the local government.

Pastor Ebanks informed the C24 that the NGO Constitutional Working Group had written to all elected politicians in November 2003 requesting their assistance with inviting the C24 on a visiting mission. "Unfortunately, we did not receive any response and this situation is not likely to change now with national elections planned for 17th November of this year," he said.

The delegation expressed its concern about the possibility of the outcome of the upcoming general elections being interpreted by the next government and the British Government as a mandate for constitutional change without the electorate receiving the benefit of further education on the options for self-determination and the development of a participatory democratic constitution.

"A constitutional referendum is an extremely important ingredient in any democratic constitutional modernisation process. To ensure that the outcome is the clearly expressed wishes of the people, all controversial issues must be settled by a binding referendum," said Pastor Ebanks in his presentation.

Referring to the constitutional modernisation process in the Cayman Islands, Pastor Ebanks informed the C24 that the self-determination options, which by their membership in the U.N. obligates the U.K. to offer to the OTs, were never disclosed at the time of the U.K. instigated constitutional reform process in 2001. "Last year, we indicated to the C24 that our Working Group fully supports an education campaign that informs us of all of our options to achieve self determination. It is unfortunate," he continued, "that in a few instances our Working Group has been met with skepticism due in large part to the title of the Special Committee of 24 on Decolonisation."

"We know that the objective of the C24 is not independence of the colonies, but self-determination of colonies and, in fact, there have been colonies that have been removed from the U.N.'s list of targeted colonies as the U.N. has been satisfied that such colonies have achieved self-determination," Pastor Al said.

"Our research has shown that Anguilla, Bermuda, Montserrat and Gibraltar as Overseas Territories are far more progressive in their approach to constitutional change than we have been (in the Cayman Islands). The Constitutional Commissioners, politicians and people of Montserrat, for example, have done considerable work beyond that done in the Cayman Islands on addressing the powers of the Governor, and we would do well to learn from their experiences," said Pastor Ebanks. "In some instances, recommendations contained in our proposed 'new constitution' are some 40 years behind Montserrat's current Constitution."

The NGO Constitutional Working Group acknowledged the valuable work that has already been done on the Cayman Islands' Commissioners' Draft Constitution, but considered the recent suspension of the Constitutional talks as providing a perfect opportunity for the Working Group to request the C24's assistance with educating the people of the Cayman Islands on all the options for self-determination to develop a democratic participatory constitution for the Cayman Islands following items on the U.K.'s Constitutional Modernisation checklist, many of which have not been included in the Draft Constitution and additional democratic constitutional provisions. "With your assistance," said Pastor Al to the C24, "we can ensure that the Constitutional modernization process reflects the essence of our people, our vision, spirit and values."

The Working Group also took the opportunity to inform the C24 of having identified some important errors and omissions in the 8th April 2004 Cayman Islands Working Paper produced by the U.N.'s Secretariat, with information primarily supplied by the U.K, supplemented with information from other public sources, and on which the Group intended to submit a report for its consideration.

The Working Group was introduced to Ambassador Mr. Robert Aisi from Papua New Guinea, who is the new Chairman of the C24. Mr. Aisi welcomed the Group and thanked them for their presentation.

Ambassadors from Cuba and Bolivia also thanked Pastor Ebanks for his "excellent" presentation but they noted with concern the serious complaints received against the Cayman Islands' Administering Power, the U.K.

The Ambassador from Bolivia asked what is the degree of information and knowledge of the people of the Cayman Islands of the three options - independence, integration and free association. Pastor Ebanks explained that until the former Chairman of C24, Ambassador Huntley's visit to Grand Cayman in April 2003, the people of the Cayman Islands were unaware of these options since the U.K. had only communicated either independence or the status quo for drafting constitutional advancement being in the control of the U.K.

Self-determination and independence are not synonymous terms; self-determination refers to the right of a people to determine their own method of government. Independence is only one of four options from which the people of a NSGT, such as the Cayman Islands, can choose. The other three options are status quo, free association and integration.

The NGO Constitutional Working Group has been working collaboratively since late 2002 with the specific purpose of educating the people of the Cayman Islands on democratic constitutional issues. This is the second consecutive year that local NGOs have addressed the C24 during its June session.

The NGO Constitutional Working Group plans to appear before the U.N.'s Special Political and Decolonisation Committee (Fourth Committee) in October.

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