British overseas territories
Each Overseas Territory has its own legal system independent of the United Kingdom. The legal system is generally based on English common law, with some distinctions for local circumstances. Each territory has its own Attorney General, and court system. For the smaller territories, the UK may appoint a UK-based lawyer or judge to work on legal cases. This is particularly important for cases involving serious crimes and where it is impossible to find a jury who will not know the defendant in a small population island[citation needed].
The Pitcairn rape trial of 2004 is an example of how the UK may choose to provide the legal framework for particular cases where the territory cannot do so alone.
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Relations with the UK
The Foreign and Commonwealth Office has the responsibility of looking after the interests of all Overseas Territories except one. The Overseas Territory Department is headed by the Foreign Office Minister for the Overseas Territories, currently the Parliamentary Under Secretary of State Meg Munn. The exception is the Sovereign Base Areas territory, which comes under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Defence.
In 1999, the FCO published the Partnership for Progress and Prosperity: Britain and the Overseas Territories report which set out the UK's policy for the Overseas Territories, covering four main areas:
- Self-determination
- Responsibilities of the UK and the territories
- Democratic autonomy
- Provision for help and assistance
The UK and the Overseas Territories do not have diplomatic representations, although the governments of the Overseas Territories with indigenous populations (except Bermuda) all retain a representative office in London. The United Kingdom Overseas Territories Association (UKOTA) also represents the interests of the territories in London.
The UK provides financial assistance to the Overseas Territories via the Department of International Development. Currently only Montserrat and Saint Helena receive budgetary aid (ie financial contribution to recurrent funding). Several specialist funds are made available by the UK, including:
- The Good Government Fund which provides assistance on government administration;
- The Economic Diversification Programme Budget which aim to diversify and enhance the economic bases of the territories
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Foreign affairs
Foreign Affairs of the Overseas Territories are handled by the Foreign and Commonwealth Office in London. However some territories maintain diplomatic officers in nearby countries for trade and immigration purposes. Several of the Caribbean territories maintain membership of the Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States and the Caribbean Community. None of the territories is a member of the Commonwealth of Nations, although they do take part in the Commonwealth Games.
Gibraltar is the only Overseas Territory that is part of the European Union (EU), although it is not part of the customs union and is not a member in its own right. None of the other Overseas Territories are members of the EU, and the main body of EU law does not apply and, although certain slices of EU law are applied to those territories as part of the EU's Association of Overseas Countries and Territories (OCT Association), they are not commonly enforceable in local courts. The OCT Association also provides Overseas Territories with structural funding for regeneration projects.
Since the return of full British citizenship to most 'belongers' of Overseas Territories (mainly since the British Overseas Territories Act 2002), the citizens of those territories hold concurrent European Union citizenship, giving them rights of free movement across all EU member states.
Several nations dispute the UK's sovereignty in the following Overseas Territories:
- British Antarctic Territory — Territory overlaps Antarctic claims made by Chile and Argentina (though under the Antarctic Treaty System, these claims are not disputed)
- British Indian Ocean Territory — claimed by Mauritius and Seychelles
- Falkland Islands — claimed by Argentina
- Gibraltar — claimed by Spain
- South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands — claimed by Argentina
- Sovereign Base Areas of Akrotiri and Dhekelia — claimed by Cyprus
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Citizenship
None of the Overseas Territories have their own nationality status, and all citizens are classed as British Overseas Territories citizens (BOTC). They do however, have legislative independence over immigration, and holding the status of a BOTC does not automatically give a person a right to abode in any of the territories, as it depends on the territory's immigration laws. A territory may issue Belonger status to allow a person classed as a BOTC to reside in the territory that they have close links with. Non-BOTC citizens may acquire Belonger status in order to reside in a particular territory (and may subsequently become naturalised BOTC if they wish).
Historically, most inhabitants of the former British Empire held the status of British subject, which was usually lost upon independence. From 1949, British subjects in the United Kingdom and the remaining crown colonies became citizens of the United Kingdom and Colonies. However changes in British immigration and nationality law between 1962 and 1983 saw the creation of a separate British Dependent Territories citizenship with effect from January, 1983. Citizens in most territories were stripped of full British citizenship. This was mainly to prevent a mass exodus of the citizens of Hong Kong to the UK before the agreed handover to China in 1997. Exception was made for the Falkland Islands, which had been invaded the previous year by Argentina. Full British citizenship was soon returned to the people of Gibraltar due to their friction with Spain.
However, the British Overseas Territories Act 2002 replaced dependent territory citizenship with British Overseas Territories citizenship, and restored full British citizenship to all BOTCs except those from the Sovereign Base Areas of Cyprus. This restored to BOTCs the right to reside in the UK.
British citizens do not, however, have an automatic right to reside in any of the Overseas Territories. Some territories prohibit immigration, and any visitors are required to seek the permission of the territory's government to live in the territory. As they are used primarily as military bases, Ascension Island and the British Indian Ocean Territory do not allow visitors to the territory unless on official business.
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Military
Defence of the Overseas Territories is the responsibility of the UK. Many of the Overseas Territories are used as military bases by the UK and its allies.
- Ascension Island (a dependency of Saint Helena) - the Base (formerly known as RAF Ascension Island) is used by both the Royal Air Force and the United States Air Force.
- Bermuda - became the primary Royal Navy base in the Western Hemisphere, following US independence. The Naval establishment included an admiralty, a dockyard, and a naval squadron. A considerable military garrison was built up to protect it, and Bermuda, which the British Government came to see as a base, rather than as a colony, was known as the Gibraltar of the West [1]. Canada and the USA also established bases in Bermuda during the Second World War, which were maintained through the Cold War. Since 1995, the military force in Bermuda has been reduced to the local territorial battalion, the Bermuda Regiment.
- British Indian Ocean Territory - the island of Diego Garcia is home to a large naval base and airbase leased to the United States by the United Kingdom until 2036 (unless renewed), but that either government can opt out of the agreement in 2016.
- Falkland Islands - the British Forces Falkland Islands includes commitments from the British Army, Royal Air Force and Royal Navy.
- Gibraltar - a Royal Navy dockyard, also used by NATO. RAF Gibraltar is used by the RAF and NATO. The local garrison is manned by the Royal Gibraltar Regiment.
- The Sovereign Base Areas of Akrotiri and Dhekelia in Cyprus - maintained as strategic British military bases in the eastern Mediterranean Sea.
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Symbols and insignia
Each Overseas Territory has been granted its own flag and coat of arms by the British monarch. Traditionally, the flags follow the Blue Ensign design, with the Union Flag in the canton, and the territory's coat of arms in the fly. Exceptions to this are Bermuda which uses a Red Ensign; British Antarctic Territory which uses a White Ensign; British Indian Ocean Territory which uses a Blue Ensign with wavy lines to symbolise the sea; and Gibraltar which uses a banner of its coat of arms (the flag of the city of Gibraltar). Gibraltar's coat of arms is unique in that it is the only armorial insignia that dates from before the period of British colonial administration[citation needed].
The Sovereign Base Areas of Akrotiri and Dhekelia are the only British Overseas Territories without an official flag of their own. The Union Flag is used in this territory and is also used for Ascension Island.
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Gallery of images
 View of the military base at Diego Garcia, British Indian Ocean Territory. |
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 Upland, Falkland Islands. |
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 Garrison HQ, Dhekelia |
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References
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See also
- British Overseas Territories Act 2002
- British Overseas Territories citizen
- Foreign and Commonwealth Office
- Colonial Department
- Secretary of State for the Colonies
- Colonial Office
- British Empire
- Crown dependency
- Self-governing colony
- Dominion
- Commonwealth Realm
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Further reading
- Harry Ritchie: The Last Pink Bits
- Simon Winchester: Outposts: Travel to the Remains of the British Empire (published in 1985 in the UK as Outposts: Journeys to the Surviving Relics of the British Empire also in the US as The Sun Never Sets: Travels to the Remaining Outposts of the British Empire.)
- George Drower: Britain's Dependent Territories, Dartmouth, 1992
- George Drower: Overseas Territories Handbook, TSO, 1998
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External links
- Foreign and Commonwealth Office- "UK Overseas Territories"
- The Commonwealth - UK government site
- Decolonisation - History links for the end of the European formal Empires, casahistoria.net
- UK Overseas Territories Conservation Forum
- British Overseas Territories Act 2002- Text of the Act
- United Kingdom Overseas Territories Association
- Britlink - The British Overseas Territories
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