MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Taiana calls UK's Malvinas dispute attitude inadmissible

Taiana denies the Islanders' right to self-determination

Britain's refusal to negotiate Argentine sovereignty over the Malvinas islands is “inadmissible” said Argentina's Foreign Affairs minister Jorge Taiana addressing on Thursday in New York the United Nations Special Committee on Decolonization or C24.

"This is not the behavior the international community expects from responsible members of the organization" added Taiana who again emphasized that Argentina's sovereign rights over the Malvinas, Sandwich del Sur and Georgia del Sur islands and surrounding maritime spaces are "unrenounceable" and "imprescriptible". In his reference to the Malvinas islands population, Taiana described the Islanders as a "transplanted population" and not "subjugated by the colonial power" so the right to self determination "does not apply". "The United Nations charter was adopted with the profound conviction that the UN should practice tolerance, live in peace and join forces to uphold international peace and security", underlined Taiana in his speech. However the UK "considers itself above the calls from the international community, above the opinion of these United Nations" and abrogates itself "the right to be the only arbiter on "when, how and even if it's going to negotiate or not", possibly with the purpose of "pretending to consolidate its illegitimate act of force, never consented by Argentina". Taiana added that this attitude is even more worrisome from the moment the UK is a permanent member of the Security Council "a country to which we've trusted with the specific responsibility of preserving international peace and security". Furthermore "Argentina attributes particular importance to the role that can be displayed by the UN Secretary General in complying with the good offices mission commended by the General Assembly", and which has been systematically renewed with the purpose of bringing both sides to the negotiation table. "We don't see any other alternative" because we haven't heard any proposal from the British side as to how address the sovereignty dispute by peaceful means following on the mandate of the international community. Taiana said Argentina has "no doubts" about its sovereignty rights over the disputed territories and more specifically regarding the Malvinas islands, --which belong to the independent and sovereign state of the republic of Argentina recognized by the UK --, "they were occupied by force against the wish of its inhabitants by a world power". Argentina "never consented to this plunder. The usurping world power expulsed the Argentine population and transplanted its own subjects impeding since then, and in a systematic and discriminatory way, Argentines from establishing or owning land in the Islands". Therefore "this population of transplanted British subjects, whose Britishness and number of generations the usurper power so much likes to underline through its own petitioners, can never be considered as subdued or subjugated to the colonial power", Finally, since "it's a transplanted population the right to self determination is not applicable". The Argentine petitioners were Evangelina Areguati and Guillermo Clifton allegedly descendents from the original inhabitants of the Malvinas.