Island suffers ‘democratic deficiency’ with UK – report
Bermuda suffers a “democratic deficiency” under the current constitutional set up, a new study into self-governance states.
The report, commissioned by the Government at a cost of $50,000, finds that the UK is not doing enough to work with the island on moving towards self-determination, and there is a lack of public education regarding what independence would mean.
The limits of domestic power were shown by London’s rejection of the Government’s Cannabis Licensing Bill which aimed to legalise use and production of the drug, the document concludes.
“At the end of the day, the dependency governance arrangement in Bermuda, as an advanced constitutional model vis-à-vis other Caribbean dependencies, nevertheless reflects significant democratic deficiency”, the Assessment of Self-Governance Sufficiency in Conformity With Internationally-recognised Standards report by Carlyle Corbin states.
The report finds that Britain is falling behind on informing Bermudians of constitutional options, creating an “information deficit.”.
The study states: “There appears to be little evidence of significant collaboration between the administering power and the Government of Bermuda in the promotion of public awareness on the political status options of absolute political equality, nor any recognition of a sustained role of the UN in the process following the 1986 formal UK withdrawal of cooperation from the Special Committee on Decolonisation.
“It is quite apparent that there was insufficient knowledge and awareness among the people of Bermuda and its political leadership of the role of international law in their process of political and constitutional development.
“That information deficit extended not only to the political options available to the people, but also to the important part that the wider United Nations system could play in supporting the self-determination and subsequent decolonisation of the territory.”
The report quotes UN resolutions stating: “It is the responsibility of the … administering power to continue to create such conditions in (the territory) as will enable the people of the territory to exercise freely and without interference their inalienable right to self-determination and independence.
“In this connection, it is the obligation of the UK under international law to facilitate a genuine process of self-determination for the people of Bermuda in order to advance the territory to the full measure of self government.
“In this pursuit, measures have been identified by the international community for implementation by the administering power of the territory to fulfil this legally binding commitment.
“A most relevant action is contained in the mandate of the 1960 Decolonisation Declaration for the UK “to take immediate steps … to transfer all powers to the peoples of (Bermuda) … without any conditions or reservations, in accordance with their freely expressed will and desire.”
Although, unlike other Overseas Territories, the Governor of Bermuda cannot instigate legislation, the report points out that proposed laws voted through parliament can be blocked by London.
It states: “This absence of the UK governor’s power to legislate for Bermuda does not preclude the exercise of unilateral authority in other areas, including the power to withhold assent on legislation adopted by the elected legislature. Hence, the UK Governor may not ‘make laws,’ but can ‘reject laws’.
“This power of withholding assent to laws is portrayed as ‘limited’, but the overriding point is that such power exists.”
Scott Pearman, the Shadow Attorney General, told The Royal Gazette: “Clearly, the Government is oblivious to where the people are right now.
“We have almost $6 billion of fiscal liabilities and they seem to be focused on a secret report that represents part of their pro-independence agenda. This is not a priority right now.”
Revealing the contents of the study, the commission of which was not made public until last month’s Throne Speech, Kathy Lynn Simmons, Attorney General and Minister of Legal Affairs and Constitutional Reform, told the House of Assembly on Friday, that markers were used to assess the level of readiness for full autonomy on the island.
She said: “Bermuda’s scoring across the ten self-governance indicators demonstrates that we have not achieved preparedness for the full measure of self-governance under any of the indicators.”
• To read the report or remarks from the Minister of Legal Affairs and Constitutional Reform, click on the PDFs under “Related Media”.
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