Bermuda in hot water with Britain over Uighurs
Annie wrote yesterday about how Bermuda and Palau’s economic dependency on the United States might have something to do with their decision to accept Uighur prisoners from Guantanamo Bay. But Bermuda also has a legal dependency on Britian, and London was surprised, to say the list, by the news, and they’re a bit ticked off ...
Annie wrote yesterday about how Bermuda and Palau's economic dependency on the United States might have something to do with their decision to accept Uighur prisoners from Guantanamo Bay. But Bermuda also has a legal dependency on Britian, and London was surprised, to say the list, by the news, and they're a bit ticked off at Washington as well:
Annie wrote yesterday about how Bermuda and Palau’s economic dependency on the United States might have something to do with their decision to accept Uighur prisoners from Guantanamo Bay. But Bermuda also has a legal dependency on Britian, and London was surprised, to say the list, by the news, and they’re a bit ticked off at Washington as well:
Under a 1968 understanding known as the general entrustment, Bermuda has the right to conduct external relations "on behalf of" Britain, on condition that London is consulted before agreements with other states are entered. At issue is whether the prison transfer represented such a formal agreement, or simply a local immigration matter. The Foreign Office insisted the matter was "a security issue for which the Bermuda government does not have delegated responsibility."
British officials said there would now be talks with Bermuda on the interpretation of the general entrustment. But by this evening they were playing down a suggestion made earlier in the day that the understanding would be suspended. Meanwhile, a Foreign Office official said Britain would help Bermuda carry out a thorough security assessment of the four Chinese Muslim separatists.
Taken by surprise by news of the Uighurs arrival, Britain’s foreign secretary, David Miliband, is understood to have had an uneasy telephone conversation with the US secretary of state, Hillary Clinton, about why London was not told. Clinton reportedly said the US had assumed that Bermuda had agreed the move with Britain before agreeing to host the Uighurs.
Just to connect the memes, the question of whether Bermuda’s sovereignty is recognized in U.S. law was one taken up by none other than Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor, who argued in a 2000 dissent that Bermudans should be considered citizens of a foreign state, despite the fact that the State Department does not recognize the island as a sovereign nation.
No exactly relevant to this question, but interesting.
Joshua Keating was an associate editor at Foreign Policy. Twitter: @joshuakeating
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