Submission from Mr Peter Tatchell
My submission to the Foreign Affairs Committee
concerns the state of human rights in the British Overseas Territory
of Gibraltar.
It is based on an eight-day fact-finding visit
to Gibraltar, from 26 September to 3 October 2007, at the invitation
of local human rights campaigners.
During this visit I met with the leaders of
the main political parties—Joe Bossano of the Gibraltar
Socialist Labour Party, Joseph Garcia of the Liberals and Keith
Azopardi of the Progressive Democrats. I was due to meet the leader
of the Gibraltar Social Democrats and Chief Minister, Peter Caruana,
but he imposed unreasonable conditions on our meeting, so I declined.
I did, however, meet individual members of the GSD.
In addition, I met with representatives from
a wide range of human rights, community groups and non-governmental
organisations.
(i) After having consulted with a wide cross-section
of Gibraltarian society, it is my conclusion that Gibraltar fails
a number of UK and EU human rights standards.
(ii) It is also my conclusion that many victims
of human rights abuses lack effective, swift mechanisms for the
redress of these abuses.
(iii) It is my further conclusion that some
victims of human rights abuses are silenced by a prevailing atmosphere
of intimidation and fear. I heard mention of the climate of fear,
and the fear of retribution, many times during my visit.
(iv) Some Gibraltarians told me of instances
of official discrimination, harassment and injustice they had
experienced after they had made complaints against the government
or state officials. Others told me they were unwilling to make
official complaints or go on the public record regarding the human
rights violations they had suffered. They said they were afraid
of retribution from government agencies. This included fear of
losing—or being denied access to—jobs, housing, welfare
benefits, medical treatment, student places and educational awards
and grants. I heard of instances where complainants and protesters
had suffered one or more of these deprivations.
(v) The British government has ultimate responsibility
for the protection of human rights in Gibraltar. As a matter of
urgency, the Foreign Office should establish an oversight mechanism
to monitor human rights abuses and recommend remedies—to
ensure Gibraltar's compliance with British and EU human rights
standards.
The main findings from my visit are as follows:
1. A DRIFT TO
AUTOCRACY
Concern was expressed by many local people at
the way the Chief Minister has also taken for himself the important
Ministries of Finance and Justice. This is an unhealthy concentration
of power in the hands of one man, which goes against the British
tradition of separation of powers and of checks and balances.
The suspension of the Chief Justice, Derek Schofield,
combined with the Chief Minister's assumption of the Justice Minister
post, raises questions concerning the independence of the judiciary
and the proper separation of powers between the judiciary and
the executive.
I also heard repeated critical allegations regarding
the operation of industrial tribunals and their failure to provide
swift, fair rulings to appellants—including the fact some
claimants have great difficulty in funding their cases. Everyone
should be entitled to equal access to justice, according to local
campaign groups.
2. MOROCCAN COMMUNITY—VISA
AND RESIDENCE
RIGHTS DIFFICULTIES
Members of the Moroccan community raised a number
of issues, including parent's difficulties in obtaining visas
for their children to visit Gibraltar during the summer holidays.
Visa applications are, they say, frequently ignored or delayed
until after the period requested.
Great distress and disadvantage is caused by
the denial of permanent residence rights to Moroccans who have
lived and worked in Gibraltar for 25 years or more; compounded
by some people reporting that applications by eligible persons
are mislaid or ignored.
Moreover, the 25-year residence requirement
for eligibility for permanent residence rights is unreasonably
long and is many times in excess of the British and EU residence
periods for permanent residence rights.
Moroccans also complain about the unfairness
of the English-proficiency requirement for permanent residence,
given that the government has failed to provide English language
training to enable applicants to fulfil this requirement. In other
words, the government stipulates a requirement but fails to give
the applicants the means to fulfil that requirement. Moreover,
the standard of English proficiency required of Moroccan residence
applicants is higher than that possessed by some Gibraltar citizens.
3. BUENA VISTA
HOSTEL FOR
MOROCCAN WORKERS
I spoke to members of the Moroccan community
who regularly visit the Gibraltar government's hostel for Moroccan
workers, Buena Vista. They say it is unfit for human habitation;
alleging it is decaying, cramped, dirty, infested, badly maintained
and with poor amenities. They describe it as Third World housing
in a first world country; arguing that the accommodation standards
are not much better than those in run-down parts of Lagos and
New Delhi. The unsanitary conditions are, they say, in breach
of Gibraltar and EU environmental health standards—a violation
of the Buena Vista residents' human rights.
Photos of the squalid conditions inside the
hostel can be viewed here:
http://humanrightsgib.blogspot.com/
These photos had to be taken and obtained surreptitiously.
Anyone caught taking or distributing these photos is likely to
suffer unofficial official retribution, I was told. It is not
that the photographer would have committed any offence, but that
the government of Gibraltar would have been embarrassed and would
have found ways to "get back" at the persons who took
and distributed the photos—more evidence of the climate
of fear that many Gibraltarians spoke to me about.
The Buena Vista hostel accommodates about 250
single Moroccan men, with the oldest resident having lived and
worked in Gibraltar for around 35 years.
These are the allegations being made by Moroccans
at the Buena Vista hostel:
— The rooms are tiny and cramped—a
mere 2.5m by 2m.
— Half the showers and toilets are
broken and unusable.
— Sections of tiling have fallen off
the walls in the bathrooms.
— The bare, rough concrete floors in
the toilets and showers are unhygienic.
— Damp and mould affect many of the
walls and ceilings.
— Half the rings on the kitchen cookers
do not work.
— Only one sink per 13 residents, for
washing plates and utensils.
— Laundry facilities are non-existent.
— Much of the premises are infested
with cockroaches.
— The hostel is poorly facilitated
and supervised, with no adequate maintenance and repairs service.
The government's failure to remedy the slum
housing at Buena Vista is a dereliction of its duties and responsibilities.
4. DISABLED RIGHTS
AND MENTAL
HEALTH ISSUES
Disabled groups expressed concern that the government
provides no walking stick or Braille training for the blind or
visually impaired; and that the government has promised to build
an urgently needed modern Psychiatric Hospital, but has failed
to do so; leaving the territory with unsatisfactory psychiatric
facilities.
Disabled people have limited legal protection
against discrimination. To remedy this failing, local groups say
that legislation similar to Britain's Disability Discrimination
Act is a priority. It would help safeguard the rights and welfare
of disabled Gibraltarians.
5. ABUSES AT
THE DR
GIRALDI HOME
A number of past and present employees, senior
social services staff and parents of patients, have made serious
allegations of physical and sexual abuse at Gibraltar's Dr Giraldi
Home for disabled children and adults. According to parents of
Dr Giraldi residents, these allegations have never been properly
investigated or rectified.
The allegations, concerning past and present
conditions at Dr Giraldi, include allegations of: insufficient
health and safety procedures, poor controls on access to medication,
severe understaffing, few employees specifically trained in disability
issues or in dealing with challenging behaviour, a substandard
fire alarm system, serious medication errors, missing class A
drugs, residents left at night unattended, broken wheelchairs,
patients'/respite users' personal money unaccounted for, and alleged
sexual abuse.
These allegations grave enough to merit a thorough-going
independent public inquiry, to sort fact from fiction. Disabled
organisations are shocked that no public inquiry has taken place,
despite these allegations having been first made three years ago.
6. SEXUAL ORIENTATION
DISCRIMINATION
Gay human rights organisations expressed concern
that they had been systematically shunned by the government. The
territory's unequal age of consent for gay men (18 not 16) is
illegal under rulings by the European Court of Human Rights.
Also unlawful under the European Convention
on Human Rights are the discriminatory homophobic criminal offences
of "buggery", "attempted buggery" and "gross
indecency". Gay organisations urge the scrapping of these
anti-gay laws to ensure that the criminal law does not discriminate
on the grounds of sexual orientation.
Gibraltar offers no legal recognition to same-sex
partners. In the view of local gay rights groups, equality and
fairness requires that Gibraltar should legislate some form of
legal rights for lesbian and gay couples—perhaps modelled
on the UK's Civil Partnership Act 2003.
Eligibility for affordable housing schemes has
been extended to unmarried heterosexual partners but not to unmarried
same-sex partners. Local gay campaigners question: How can this
differential treatment be justified?
In the absence of legal protection against discrimination
in the provision of goods and services, restaurateurs, hoteliers
and shop owners are entitled to refuse to serve a gay or lesbian
person. The government of Gibraltar has already eliminated such
discrimination on the grounds of race and ethnicity. It should
likewise protect its gay and lesbian citizens from such discrimination,
argue human rights groups.
Seven years after its establishment, Gibraltar
Gay Rights reports that it is one of the very few community organisations
that receives no government funding or premises, despite providing
a valuable social and community service.
7. EQUAL OPPORTUNITIES
COMMISSION
The creation of the EOC is a welcome first step,
but human rights organisations point out that its terms of reference
have never been made public. Moreover, the remit of the EOC is
narrowly defined to cover only race equality. Local equality groups
say it should be extended to combat all discrimination, including
discrimination based on gender, age, sexual orientation, disability
and religion or belief, along the lines of the remit of the UK's
new Commission for Equality and Human Rights.
8. CONCLUSION
From my extensive discussions with Gibraltarians
from all walks of life, it is apparent that there is a serious
human rights deficit in the territory, and that it falls short
of the human rights standards expected in the UK and most of Europe.
I sense that the mood of the public in Gibraltar favours equality
and human rights, but that legislative action is being thwarted
by the government.
Gibraltar is a British Overseas Territory, for
which the British government and Foreign Office have responsibility.
I would urge the British authorities to meet that responsibility
by ensuring Gibraltar's compliance with EU regulations and European
human rights law.
15 October 2007
| 
