Fourth Committee welcomes Gib treaty as UN approach to decolonisation faces US criticism

The United Nations’ Special Political and Decolonization Committee, commonly known as the Fourth Committee, has welcomed the signing of the UK/EU treaty on Gibraltar last July 14.

The acknowledgement was contained in the annual consensus decision agreed by the UK and Spain and adopted by the committee.

The decision, adopted in draft by the Fourth Committee for subsequent adoption by the General Assembly, “…recognizes the efforts made in recent years by all concerned to advance cooperation in order to resolve problems and promote stability and prosperity for all those living in the region and, in this context, welcomes the signing on 14 July 2026 of an agreement between the European Union and the United Kingdom in respect of Gibraltar.”

It also “…takes note that the agreement is without prejudice to the respective legal positions of Spain and the United Kingdom with regard to sovereignty and jurisdiction, and reaffirms that those positions remain unchanged.”

According to the UN, this year’s draft decision on Gibraltar was adopted by a recorded vote of 161 in favour, something which is unusual. It gave no explanation why.

France and Honduras abstained from the vote on the Gibraltar text.

Two countries, the US and Israel, voted against.

Both countries have a longstanding record of voting against many decolonisation texts in the Fourth Committee.

In an address to the Fourth Committee, Ambassador Tammy Bruce, Deputy Representative of the United States to the United Nations, explained her government’s wider position on the committee’s work, offering some insight into the negative vote not just on the Gibraltar text but on the committee’s other resolutions.

“The United States voted no on all of the resolutions and decisions under this [decolonisation] agenda item,” Ms Bruce said by way of introduction.

“Our votes on the resolutions and decisions under this agenda item do not change US policy on any of the underlying questions.”

“They reflect our judgment that the Fourth Committee no longer needs to consider these questions through the filter of the Special Committee on Decolonization.”

“The Special Committee has outlived its original purpose, with more than 80 former colonies having since joined the UN as member states.”

“In spite of this, the Special Committee operates as though nothing has changed.”

“Revisiting the same texts every year wastes the UN's time and resources, as do the Special Committee's yearly junkets to resorts in the Caribbean and South Pacific.”

“The Special Committee also refuses to accept outcomes other than independence.”

“As the 1970 Declaration of Principles of International Law Concerning Friendly Relations reflects, the people of a non-self-governing territory may validly choose free association, integration with the administering state, or any other political status, provided they freely determine it.”

“The Special Committee should not presume to speak for these peoples or intervene in the internal affairs of a sovereign state and its relations with non-self-governing territories.”

“Finally, and most troubling, the special committee has become a venue for ideological posturing rather than a forum focused on the people it claims to serve.”

“Governments that deny their own citizens free elections and the right to choose their leaders use this body to lecture others about self-determination.”

And she later added: “The people of the remaining territories deserve better than to be considered as props in other governments' political campaigns.”

“The United States calls for ending the Special Committee's mandate.”

Some of the sentiment expressed by the US ambassador will resonate here in Gibraltar.

Earlier this month, for example, Chief Minister Fabian Picardo addressed the Fourth Committee and urged it to stop repeating “stale” decisions and take practical steps to remove Gibraltar from its list of non-self-governing territories.

The UN, he said, “cannot deny us our right to self-determination”.

Likewise, UK Government diplomats have repeatedly told the Fourth Committee that the UK is clear that Gibraltarians have the right to self-determination and that it will never change or discuss the Rock’s British sovereignty against their wishes.

Just this week, Ambassador Kate Foster, the UK’s Deputy Permanent Representative to the UN, told the committee that Gibraltar’s 2006 Constitution provides for a “modern and mature partnership” between the UK and Gibraltar.

The Fourth Committee should recognise that “the relationship between the United Kingdom and its Overseas Territories has been modernised”.