PERSONAL & CONFIDENTIAL
THE
CONVENT,
GIBRALTAR.
is to give a separate, distinctive citizenship to each dependency. That is logical- it is, after all, what the United Kingdom is doing for itself; it emphasises the identity of each territory and its people; and it makes it the easier to dispose of certain
For of those citizenships as a territory becomes independent. example, all those dependent territory citizens with a Belize British Citizenship, whatever its actual title, would simply become "Belize Citizens" on independence. An appropriate title, and one which would be welcome here if that course were chosen, would be to provide in the Bill for "Citizens of British Gibraltar", "British Hong Kong", the "British Falkland Islands and so on. (I am assuming that "British Citizens of Gibraltar", etc, would be unacceptable to the Home Office, though the people of the Dependent Territories, I am sure, would prefer it.)
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A less bold solution is to retain a single Dependent Territories Citizenship but to relate it in each case to a partic- ular territory. That would be done by providing for a single Citizenship for all the territories and defining each individual
In other as belonging to a single one of these territories. words, a Gibraltarian would become a "Citizen of the British Dependent Territory of Gibraltar" and a Hong Kong belonger a "Citizen of the British Dependent Territory of Hong Kong", but all would continue to share a single composite citizenship of the dependencies. This avoids a proliferation of tiny, separate citizenships, and it is arguably less politically charged than
Both these solutions have in my speaking of "British Gibraltar" view the strong advantage that it is made clear from the outset the territory from which the citizen of a British Dependent Territory derives his citizenship, and to which he has the right of entry. In addition, a change of this kind distinguishing Gibraltar from the other dependencies would make it easier to redefine the categories of persons who are to be European Community nationals by virtue of the United Kingdom's membership of the Community; and the need for this redefinition might itself provide the pretext, if a pretext was thought necessary, for the granting of a number of titles within the single British Dependent Territories Citizenship. European Community nationals would be defined simply as "British Citizens and Citizens of British Gibraltar' or, "of the British Dependent Territory of Gibraltar", or whatever other term was adopted.
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My Attorney-General has given some thought to how this second approach could be included in the Bill whilst preserving the present structure of Part II, and I enclose a short memorandum by him together with the drafting amendments he suggests might be made to Part II to give effect to it. I commend it to the attention of the Department's experts, and those in the Home Office.
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Finally, there is Hassan's own option.
He is still at work
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PERSONAL & CONFIDENTIAL
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