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 Challenge is Issued to Nation's Chief Minister by Peter Tatchell Peter Caruana Loses Cool at the Royal Commonwealth Society |
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Compiled By GayToday
Mr. Caruana reacted aggressively, loosing his cool and calling Mr. Tatchell a "liar". The chairman of the meeting had to request Mr. Caruana to halt his counter-attack to allow other questions. "There was no need for the Chief Minister to react with such anger and hostility. His aggressive style did not go down well with many in the audience", said Mr. Tatchell. The Chief Minister was speaking at the Royal Commonwealth Society last night (Wednesday 1 May 2002), on the theme of Gibraltar's Right to Self-Determination. His audience included diplomats, journalists, human rights lawyers, British officials and friends of Gibraltar. Tatchell Backs Gibralter's Right to Self-Determination
"The credibility of Gibraltar's claim to self-determination is undermined by Gibraltar's failure to support the right to self-determination of other oppressed peoples, most notably the people of Western Sahara who were originally colonized by the Spanish and who are now occupied by the Moroccans". "If Gibraltar does not express support the right of other nations to self-determination, why should the rest of world support its claim for self-determination?" Later, replying to this criticism from Mr. Tatchell, the Chief Minister conceded that his government had "not expressed support for the people of Western Sahara, East Timor or anywhere else. Why should we?" Yet a following questioner from the audience reminded Mr. Caruana that previous Gibraltar administrations had publicly backed the Falkland's right to self-determination. Mr. Tatchell then suggested that the Gibraltar government was being hypocritical "to demand the right to self-determination when it does not respect the human rights of its own people". He cited the "lack of rights for the disabled, gay people and immigrants": Abuse of Disabled People "Disabled people have no legal protection against discrimination. It is therefore legal to discriminate against them. Many of the disabled get no welfare benefits at all". Mr. Tatchell was referring to the fact that only the congenitally disabled are entitled to government benefits, not those who become disabled in later life. Abuse of Gay People "There is a discriminatory age of consent of 18 for gay men, compared to 16 for heterosexuals. In a case bought against the British government in 1997, the European Court of Human Rights ruled that a discriminatory age of consent is illegal. By maintaining a discriminatory consent law, Gibraltar is defying the European Court of Human Rights". "Because there is no legal protection against discrimination for lesbians and gay men, it is lawful to sack them from their jobs, refuse them service in hotels or restaurants, and evict them from housing", said Mr Tatchell. In his later reply to these points, Mr. Caruana defended his government's discriminatory age of consent of 18 stating: "What's wrong with that?" Abuse of Immigrant People "Immigrant workers are concentrated in the lowest paid, most menial jobs. They are not allowed to apply for residence rights until they have lived in Gibraltar for 25 years, and even then their applications are often ignored or mislaid. This 25-year rule contravenes the European Union recommendation that immigrants should be eligible for residence rights after 10 years". Mr. Tatchell later cited the September 2000 March for Justice: "It presented to the government hundreds of applications for residence from immigrant workers who had already lived in Gibraltar for 25 years or more. To this date, no response has been received by any of the applicants". "The Gibraltar government is failing to conform to European norms of human rights", concluded Mr. Tatchell. |
