NGOs Meet With UN About Self-determination
Cayman NGO representatives at the United Nations
were (l-r) Alice Mae Coe, Pastor Al Ebanks, Dennie
Warren Jr and Wil Pineau
Friday, July 2, 2004
A local delegation from the Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs)
Constitutional Working Group addressed the United Nations Special Committee of
24 (C24) on Decolonisation on Wednesday, 16th June in New York City.
The delegation 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 Working Group included representatives from the Cayman Ministers
Association (Pastor Al Ebanks, Chairman, and Co-Chairman of the Group), Chamber
of Commerce (Wil Pineau, Chief Executive Officer and Secretary to the Group),
People for Referendum (Dennie Warren Jr., President) and Alice Mae Coe
(Chairperson, Concerned Citizens Group).
These NGOs, together with the Cayman Democratic Initiative and the Forum,
have 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 addressed the C24 during its
June session.
Pastor Al Ebanks delivered a 20-minute presentation on behalf of the Cayman
delegation and answered questions from the C24 members. He provided the C24 with
an update on the activities of the Group since the last C24 meeting in June 2003
and informed them of the "misleading representations" by the British government
regarding its obligations under various UN resolutions dating back to the 1960s
dealing with self-determination.
A letter written by Bill Rammell, MP, Parliamentary Under Secretary of State
in the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) preceding the meeting of the
Overseas Territories Consultative Council meeting in London in December 2003,
was presented to the C24.
In that letter to the elected leaders of each of the OTs, Mr Rammell
contradicted an earlier FCO statement of July 2003 that confirmed for the first
time that the UK acknowledged that there are "three, possibly four options"
available to the OTs for self-determination which they had failed to communicate
as part of the Constitutional Review process.
"We believe this effort by the UK 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 UK and the OTs," said Pastor Al.
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.
Another appeal made by the Working Group was for 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.
Referring to the constitutional modernisation process in the Cayman Islands,
Pastor Al informed the C24 that the self- determination options, which by their
membership in the UN obligates the UK to offer to the OTs, were never disclosed
at the time of the UK 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 scepticism 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 UN's list of targeted colonies as the UN has been
satisfied that such colonies have achieved self-determination," said Pastor Al.
Ambassadors from Cuba and Bolivia also thanked Pastor Al for his "excellent"
presentation, but they noted with concern the serious complaints received
against the Cayman Islands' Administering Power, the UK.
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 Al 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
UK had only communicated either independence or the status quo for drafting
constitutional advancement being in the control of the UK.
During the meeting, 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 appealed to the
C24 to reject the attempts by the UK 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.
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