hugh mcsween

Let Us Simply Apply the United Nations Criteria of Decolonisation & See How Scotland Qualifies as a Colony of England I sense that for certain people there remains a genuine hesitation whenever the idea of Scotland as a colony is mentioned. This confusion is neither accidental nor unique. It's normal & belongs to the very psychology & strategy of colonialism itself. Throughout history, colonised nations have often struggled to recognise their own subjugation, precisely because the coloniser’s greatest success lies in shaping perception; in transforming colonial domination into partnership, & dependence into loyalty. Pride, denial, honour, dignity, & the inherited myths of equality all serve this purpose. In Scotland’s case, the English coloniser ensured that the truth of colonisation was buried under centuries of constitutional language, legal manipulation, propaganda, symbolism & tokenism, cultural assimilation through Anglophone settler colonialism. The result is a nation that has been systematically taught to believe it was never colonised at all, even as the structures & realities of colonisation define its past & present. When political narratives & domestic constitutional myths obscure reality, international law can help restore clarity. The question of whether Scotland is a colony is not a matter of rhetoric, propaganda, loyalty, or constitutional interpretation; but a matter of legal classification under the framework that governs all decolonisation processes at the UN. The time for hypothetical debate has passed. The international process has already begun. In 2025, Liberation Scotland, the recognised Scottish liberation movement, began presenting Scotland’s case within the UN system. In March 2025, the UN Secretary General & the C-24 Committee (UN Special Committee on Decolonization) received an advanced notice (petition) from Liberation Scotland on behalf of its now around 20,000 members. In June & October 2025, Liberation Scotland representatives have spoken before the C24 & the Fourth Committee of the General Assembly (C4), intervening on behalf of the peoples of Kanaky (New Caledonia) & Maʻohi Nui (French Polynesia), two Non-Self-Governing Territories (NSGT) officially recognised by the UN, part of the current UN list of 17 NSGTs. These interventions demonstrated Scotland’s understanding of, & active participation in, the same international legal framework that guides all decolonisation processes. On 18 September 2025, during the 60th session of the UN Human Rights Council, Liberation Scotland organised an international conference at the UN Headquarters in Geneva on Scotland’s Right to Self-Determination under International Law, an event fully promoted & acknowledged by the UN. The conference brought together jurists, scholars, diplomats, NGO leaders, representatives of decolonisation movements worldwide to discuss the legal pathways for Scotland’s restoration of sovereignty. With these actions, Scotland’s decolonisation process entered the sphere of formal international engagement. The Legal Foundations Three legal instruments form the cornerstone of the UN doctrine on decolonisation: 1. Article 73 of the United Nations Charter (1945), which defines the responsibility of administering powers (i.e. colonisers) for territories whose peoples have not yet attained a full measure of self-government (i.e. remain colonised). 2. General Assembly Resolution 1514 (XV) of 14 December 1960, the Declaration on the Granting of Independence to Colonial Countries and Peoples. 3. General Assembly Resolution 1541 (XV) of 15 December 1960, which codifies the principles for determining whether a territory is non-self-governing (i.e. colonised by a coloniser). These instruments provide the legal matrix through which the international community recognises colonial relationships & supervises their resolution. This is how we can assess legally if a nation like Scotland is colonised by England.