CCPR/C/SR. 856 page 8
31.
Mr. EL-SHAFEI said that, on the basis of the documents made available to him, he had calculated that only 15 per cent of the members of the Legislative Council had been directly elected. According to the opinion polls which had been conducted, however, the population wanted a Government that genuinely represented it. He therefore asked how long it would take the British Government to establish a truly representative Government in Hong Kong.
32.
Mr. FEARN (United Kingdom), replying to the questions by the members of the Committee concerning section II of the list, stressed that, contrary to the impression which might have been given by one of Mr. Zielinski's questions, self-determination did not inevitably lead to independence; that would be a contradiction in terms. He described the various options which existed in that regard in the 10 dependent territories referred to in the report of the United Kingdom.
33. Firstly, in Gibraltar, independence was excluded under the provisions of the 1713 Treaty of Utrecht, which stated that, if the United Kingdom gave up its sovereignty over those territories, Spain would exercise its rights. In 1967, a referendum on the future of Gibraltar had produced clear-cut results: 99 per cent of the voters had chosen to maintain the current constitutional relationship with the United Kingdom. Independence was therefore not an option for Gibraltar: the choice was between the present constitutional relationship and becoming part of Spain.
34. Replying to a question asked by Mrs. Chanet, in particular, he emphasized that the way of genuinely determining what the population of a territory wanted was to hold elections. Many territories which had formerly belonged to the United Kingdom had become independent after their population had voted for parties calling for independence.
35. In point of fact, Bermuda was the only United Kingdom dependent territory where a lively debate on independence was now under way. That territory already had a tradition of autonomy and it was broadly self-sufficient in economic terms. At present, however, there was no clear-cut majority in favour of independence. At the forthcoming elections, any party could propose that option. If it so wished, the Government of Bermuda could also organize a referendum on the question.
36. The British Virgin Islands had only 12,000 inhabitants. During a recent visit to London, the Prime Minister of the territory had stated that he was in favour of maintaining the constitutional relationship with the United Kingdom because of the protection and economic support it gave the population.
37. The economy of the Cayman Islands was prosperous, but the population also wished to maintain the constitutional relationship with the United Kingdom. Elections would be held in November 1988 in which anyone would be able to call for independence. If there was a majority in favour of that option, the United Kingdom would act accordingly.
38.
The economy of the Falkland Islands was changing very rapidly and GNP had tripled in the past two years. He personally had taken part in discussions on the future of the territory before the events of 1982 and he could state that, at that time, the population had made it quite clear that it did not