British MP and Chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee Mike Gapes. AFP PHOTO

LONDON, England: Britain’s Foreign Affairs Committee (FAC) published its much-anticipated report on the British Overseas Territories on Sunday, 6 July. The FAC is appointed by the House of Commons to examine the administration, expenditure and policy of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) and its associated agencies.

According to the Chairman of the Committee, Mike Gapes MP, “"This is a wide-ranging report considering the FCO's discharge of its responsibilities with regard to the UK's 14 Overseas Territories and making recommendations across these Territories. We considered the FCO’s management of the risks and contingent liabilities to which Overseas Territories expose the UK. We recommend that the FCO should encourage Bermuda, the British Virgin Islands, the Cayman Islands and Gibraltar to continue to make progress in improving financial regulation, in particular in arrangements for investigating money laundering.”

Gapes went on to say, “Overall, we have concluded that, in some cases, the FCO's approach has been too hands-off. The FCO must take its oversight responsibilities for the Overseas Territories more seriously. In particular, after receiving very serious allegations about corruption in the Turks and Caicos Islands and experiencing a palpable climate of fear on the Islands, we have recommended that a Commission of Inquiry should be announced in that Territory. We also recommend that the Government should detail the steps it has taken to ensure that allegations of corruption in Bermuda are properly investigated.”

The following are some of the conclusions and recommendations outlined in the report. Caribbean Net News will be taking an in-depth look at the report during the next several days.

Constitutional relationship
We welcome the Government’s approach of encouraging Overseas Territory governments to take the lead in reviewing their constitutions and making proposals for reform. We recommend that the FCO should, as far as possible, hold negotiations and consultations with Territory governments on such proposals within the individual Territory concerned so that the process does not appear distant to the local population. We believe that the modernisation of constitutions could also be made more transparent if the FCO published criteria for deciding the degree of self-government that is appropriate for Overseas Territories and we recommend that it does so. We also recommend that the FCO continues to send us draft constitutional Orders in Council at least 28 sitting days before they are made.

Consultation and representation
We recommend that Territory governments should be given an opportunity to pass on their opinions of the candidates for Governor before appointments are made. We welcome the appointment of local individuals as Deputy Governors in some Overseas Territories, but urge the FCO to ensure those appointed are not seen to be politically partisan individuals.

We conclude that the annual Overseas Territories Consultative Council (OTCC) is a valuable event. However, since it is intended as a forum for Territory governments, they should be given more of a say about the way in which the OTCC is run. We recommend that the FCO consults Territory governments on the improvements they would like made to the OTCC and implements their suggestions. We also recommend that the FCO should consider ways of raising awareness of the OTCC within Overseas Territories, including, as far as possible, making papers tabled for the forum publicly available. We note that Overseas Territories’ representatives reported that those issues raised in the OTCC which involved other Whitehall departments were least likely to be followed up and we recommend that the FCO continues to press other departments to take their responsibilities with regard to the Overseas Territories seriously.

We recommend that the FCO urges Overseas Territory governments whose offices in the UK are less active to consider ways of raising their profile. The FCO should also encourage this by, when appropriate, making more use of official Territory government representatives, as well as Governors, to liaise with Territory governments. We recommend that the Government also ensures that all new officeholders in Overseas Territories appointed by or on the Government’s recommendation are briefed by official Territory government representatives in the UK before they take up their posts.

We conclude that the FCO’s guidelines on treaties applying to Overseas Territories do not yet appear to be being followed by all of Whitehall and recommend that the FCO writes to remind other Government departments of their existence. We also recommend that the FCO should provide more drafting assistance to Overseas Territories for transposition of international agreements into local legislation.

We recommend that the Foreign and Commonwealth Secretary should consider with the Leader of the House and with representatives of the Opposition parties whether improvements can be made in the ways in which the views of those resident in the Overseas Territories can be made known in the UK Parliament.

We are concerned that witnesses from Overseas Territories cannot at present be guaranteed protection against legal action or even intimidation or other abuse arising as a consequence of their giving evidence to select committee inquiries in the UK. We recommend that the Government should introduce legislation to extend the Witnesses (Public Inquiries) Protection Act 1892 to Overseas Territories, or as an alternative, that it should urgently require Overseas Territories to introduce equivalent legislation as a matter of good governance.

We conclude that it is wrong for some Overseas Territories to have access to the benefits of International Olympic Committee (IOC) recognition while others do not. We recommend that the FCO should make representations to the IOC about recognition for all the UK Overseas Territories.

We recommend that the Government should give consideration to whether it would be appropriate to support wider participation of Overseas Territories in Commonwealth meetings and conferences, including the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting.

Governance
We are very concerned by the serious allegations of corruption we have received from the Turks and Caicos Islands (TCI). They are already damaging TCI’s reputation, and there are signs that they may soon begin to affect the Islands’ tourism industry. There is also a great risk that they will damage the UK’s own reputation for promoting good governance. Unlike the Cayman Islands, where the Governor has taken the initiative in investigations, the onus has been placed on local people to substantiate allegations in TCI. This approach is entirely inappropriate given the palpable climate of fear on TCI. In such an environment, people will be afraid to publicly come forward with evidence. We conclude that the UK Government must find a way to assure people that a formal process with safeguards is underway and therefore recommend that it announces a Commission of Inquiry, with full protection for witnesses. The change in Governor occurring in August presents an opportunity to restore trust and we recommend that the Commission of Inquiry should be announced before the new Governor takes up his post.

We recommend that the Government should encourage the Anguillan government to establish an independent inquiry into allegations that Anguillan ministers accepted bribes from developers in the Territory. We also recommend that the Government should urge the Anguillan government to use the opportunity of constitutional review to introduce stronger anti-corruption measures in the Territory.

We recommend that the Government sets out in its response to this Report the steps it has taken to ensure that allegations of corruption at the Bermuda Housing Corporation, in the issuing of contracts, and of electoral fraud in Bermuda are properly investigated. We also recommend that the Government should encourage the Bermuda government to strengthen its transparency measures, including by establishing an independent Electoral Commission and ending the practice of Committees of the House of Assembly sitting in camera.

We recommend that the FCO should strongly encourage all Overseas Territories which have not yet done so to introduce freedom of information legislation. We also recommend that the FCO should review with Overseas Territories what steps they might take to improve their public accounting and auditing capability. We support the Public Accounts Committee’s recent recommendations that the FCO should explore how Overseas Territories might make better use of UK expertise and that it should also explore whether those Territories with Public Accounts Committees could make more use of ex-officio members.

Rule of law
We conclude that the FCO must ensure there are sufficient measures in place to prevent interference from either the Governor or the local government in judicial decisions in Overseas Territories. We recommend that the FCO should consider transferring the responsibility for Chief Justices’ terms and conditions of employment to the Ministry of Justice. We also recommend that the FCO should consider whether judges in Overseas Territories would be less vulnerable to interference if they were on longer non-renewable contracts, with appropriate safeguards in case of incapacity, rather than on renewable short term contracts.

Human Rights
We recommend that the Government should take steps to ensure that discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation or gender status is made illegal in all Overseas Territories.

We recommend that the Government should closely monitor the conditions of prisoners, illegal immigrants and migrant workers in Overseas Territories to ensure rights are not being abused.

We conclude that although extending voting rights to non-Belongers will be politically difficult for Overseas Territory governments, the Government should at least encourage local administrations to review this issue with regard to non-Belongers who have resided in an Overseas Territory for a reasonable period. We recommend that the Government should propose that non-Belongers’ rights be an agenda item for the next OTCC.

Environmental governance
We agree with the Environmental Audit Committee that the Government does not appear to have carried out any kind of strategic assessment of Overseas Territories’ funding requirements for conservation and ecosystem management. We conclude that given the vulnerability of Overseas Territories’ species and ecosystems, this lack of action by the Government is highly negligent. The environmental funding currently being provided by the UK to the Overseas Territories appears grossly inadequate and we recommend that it should be increased. While DEFRA is the lead Whitehall department responsible for environmental issues, the FCO cannot abdicate responsibility for setting levels of funding given its knowledge of Overseas Territories’ capacity and resources. The FCO must work with other government departments to press for a proper assessment of current needs and the level of the current funding gap and then ensure increased funding by the Government through DEFRA, DFID or other government departments is targeted appropriately.

Contingent liabilities
We recommend that the FCO should encourage Bermuda, the British Virgin Islands, the Cayman Islands, and Gibraltar to continue to make progress in improving financial regulation, in particular in arrangements for investigating money laundering.

We are concerned by the National Audit Office’s finding that the FCO has been complacent in managing the risk of money laundering in Anguilla, Montserrat and the Turks and Caicos Islands, particularly since these Territories are those for which the UK is directly responsible for regulation and therefore most exposed to financial liabilities. We agree with the Public Accounts Committee’s recent recommendation that Governors of these Territories should use their reserve powers to bring in more external investigators or prosecutors to strengthen investigative capacity.

Illegal immigration
We recognise that immigration policy is a matter devolved to the Turks and Caicos Islands (TCI), but we conclude that given the scale of illegal immigration of Haitians into the Territory the FCO should accept greater responsibility for tackling the issue. We recommend that the FCO should provide a regular Royal Navy presence in TCI’s coastal waters to assist with patrols and that it should consider with the Haitian government what further measures could be taken by the Haitian and UK governments in cooperation with each other to prevent Haitians leaving by boat to enter TCI illegally.

Regulation of civil aviation
We agree with the Public Accounts Committee that the UK Government should not fund aviation regulation in Territories that are able to pay for this service. However, we recommend that the FCO must ensure that it responds to Territory government criticisms of the designated regulator before moving to charging for the service.

HMG’s overall approach to the Overseas Territories
We conclude that the Government has acted decisively in some Overseas Territories, for example in the investigations and prosecutions that took place on the Pitcairn Islands. However, in other cases which should also cause grave concern, in particular, allegations of corruption on the Turks and Caicos Islands, its approach has been too hands off. The Government must take its oversight responsibility for the Overseas Territories more seriously – consulting across all Overseas Territories more on the one hand while demonstrating a greater willingness to step in and use reserve powers when necessary on the other.

We also conclude that the choice of Governor for a Territory, and the levels of training and support they are given, are crucial. We welcome the recent upgrading of the Governor post in the Turks and Caicos Islands. We recommend that the FCO should give consideration to opening up appointments of Governors more frequently to candidates outside the diplomatic service. We also recommend that the Director of the Overseas Territories Directorate should become a more senior post.

Finally, the Committee concludes it is deplorable and totally unacceptable for any individual who has assisted the Committee with its inquiry to be subjected to threats, intimidation, or personal sanctions or violence in any form. If the Committee is informed of any such retaliatory measures being taken against any person who has submitted formal or informal evidence to this inquiry, it will take all appropriate steps within its powers.