Brief No 15
COMMONWEALTH PARLIAMENTARY ASSOCIATION
24TH ANNUAL CONFERENCE: JAMAICA 1978
1.
The Dependent Territories
There now remain 16 British Dependent Territories with a total population of approximately five million. The majority are isolated islands or island groups and are small in terms of their area and economy. A list of the Dependent Territories is attached at Annex A, together with a short background on each territory.
2. By far the most significant in population and economy is Hong Kong, while the giant in thea is British Antarctic Terri- tory, (666,000 square miles) which has no permanent population: the wide contrast in physical, human and economic conditions is a peculiar feature of Dependent Territory affairs. They each present their own set of problems and, as a result, Britain's responsibilities to her dependencies do not fall into any general pattern.
3. Many of the territories pose difficult problems because of their small size, geographical isolation, inadequate communi- cations, paucity of natural resources, weak economies and, in some cases, sovereignty disputes with neighbouring states.
4. The situation in Hong Kong is unique. Special problems confront Belize, Falkland Islands and Gibraltar, all of which are subject to territorial claims. The remote islands commu-
nities of Pitcairn in the Pacific and Tristan da Cunha in the
Atlantic are no bigger than many small villages in Britain.
5.
Despite these difficulties there continues to be steady constitutional, political and economic progress in the Dependent Territories. The majority have now adopted a
ministerial system of government, in response to local political aspirations and have as a result, assumed a large degree of
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