UK and Spain address UN Fourth Committee, setting out traditional positions and welcoming treaty

The UK Government this week told the UN Fourth Committee that its longstanding commitment to the people of Gibraltar “remains unchanged”.

Addressing the committee, an official from the UK Permanent Representation at the UN underscored the double-lock commitment while welcoming progress toward a UK/EU treaty on Gibraltar’s post-Brexit future.

“The UK will not enter arrangements under which the people of Gibraltar would pass under the sovereignty of another state against their freely and democratically expressed wishes,” he said.

“And the United Kingdom also reaffirms that it will not enter a process of sovereignty negotiations with which Gibraltar is not content.”

The UK representative outlined the New Year’s Eve political framework agreed in 2020 for an agreement that would “function in the interests of all parties”.

“The UK, working side by side with the Government of Gibraltar, reached a political agreement with the EU on the core aspects of a treaty in June 2025,” he said.

“All parties are committed to finalising the text of the UK-EU treaty in respect of Gibraltar as soon as possible.”

The British diplomat stressed that the UK has a modern relationship with all its Overseas Territories, “based on partnership, on shared values, and on the right of the people of each territory to choose to remain British or not”.

“The UK Overseas Territories are self-governing, subject only to the UK retaining powers to carry out its obligations under international law,” he said.

The UN committee also heard from Spain’s ambassador to the UN, Hector Gomez Hernandez, who set out Spain’s traditional view of Gibraltar as a “historical anachronism” rooted in the War of Succession, and how the UK had “illegally” over time expanded its territory beyond that ceded in the Treaty of Utrecht, including the isthmus and the waters around the Rock.

He repeated too the annual call for bilateral negotiations between the UK and Spain on sovereignty, insisting the guiding principle as far as Spain was concerned was territorial integrity, and that the Gibraltarians did not have the right to self-determination.

“Beyond the lack of progress in the process of decolonisation of Gibraltar, the persistence of a colonial situation on our territory continues to produce other undesirable effects that go beyond the violation of territorial integrity and unlawful occupation,” he said.

“These are evident in sectors as diverse as the economy, the environment, and security, particularly affecting the Campo de Gibraltar and its inhabitants.”

Mr Gomez also referred to the ongoing process of finalising the UK/EU treaty on Gibraltar, something that Spain welcomed.

“Spain defends the prosperity of both the territory and the municipalities on the other side of the fence, and is convinced that there remains great potential, provided the necessary political will exists,” he said, adding Brexit had created “a window of opportunity”.

“We believe in the opportunities for prosperity that can be created in the area if we are able to build a framework based on fairness.”

Mr Hernandez highlighted the Tax Treaty that entered into force in 2021 and the MoUs on citizens’ rights, police and customs cooperation, the environment and tobacco reached in 2018, of which only the first remains in force.

He noted too the New Year’s Eve agreement of 2020 as the basis for the UK/EU treaty currently being finalised, highlighting the June 11 political agreement reached this year.

In doing so, he unusually and explicitly acknowledged Gibraltar’s role in that negotiation.

“The ultimate objective of this understanding is the creation of an area of shared prosperity,” Mr Hernandez said.

“Formal negotiations between the European Union and the United Kingdom began in October 2021.”

“On June 11 of this year, the European Commissioner Maroš Šefčovič, the Minister for Foreign Affairs of Spain, José Manuel Albares, the UK Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, David Lammy, together with the Chief Minister of Gibraltar, Fabian Picardo, reached a political agreement in Brussels on the main aspects of the future agreement between the European Union and the United Kingdom regarding Gibraltar.”

“Spain welcomes this agreement, which, once finalised as a legal text, will improve the lives of the citizens of the Campo de Gibraltar.”

“Nothing in this understanding, nor any action or measure taken in its application or as a result of it, implies any modification to Spain’s legal position regarding sovereignty and jurisdiction in relation to Gibraltar.”