SCOTTISH independence campaigners have said they are taking their case to the United Nations in a bid to “free Scotland from its colonial chains”.
Radical independence campaigners Salvo and its sister organisation Liberation Scotland have paired up with Geneva-based group Justice Pour Tous Internationale (Justice for All International) to present a petition to the UN’s special committee on decolonisation.
They will take a petition to the international body to have Scotland recognised as a “non-self governing territory” like Bermuda, the British Virgin Islands, or Guam.
Sara Salyers, director of Salvo, said in a statement that Justice Pour Tous Internationale had rated the organisation’s case to be granted colonial status as strong.
They must prove that Scotland is:
- Geographically separate from the “administering power”
- In possession of “distinct ethnic, cultural or linguistic characteristics”
- Denied a “full measure” of self-government
Salvo’s petition argued that Scotland is not part of a voluntary union but instead “a dependency subject to external governance” and is a “colony under Westminster’s governance”.
In a statement to supporters, Salyers added: “You believed. You waited. Now it is time to act.
“But what has been made possible up until now by a few dozen dedicated and determined people will not be enough to free Scotland from its colonial chains from here on.
“That will take many, many more of us. In the end it will take a nation. Right now, though, the next steps will take … you.”
It is unclear whether the UN committee will hear the Scottish petition.
A bid by West Papua leader Benny Wenda to have the territory’s case heard by the special committee on decolonisation was rebuffed in 2017.
The petition, reportedly signed by 1.8 million West Papuans, or 70% of the territory’s population, was smuggled to the UN but rejected by committee chair Rafael Ramirez.
He said that the committee could only deal with the 17 states it had already identified as “non-self-governing territories” by the UN General Assembly.
The existing list of "non-self-governing territories" does not include Scotland.
Justice Pour Tous Internationale has acted in the past for campaigner Craig Murray after he was arrested at Glasgow Airport in 2023 under the Terrorism Act.
Justice Pour Tous Internationale was approached for comment.
