MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency
Falklands' lawmaker underlines “visas are our business”
Last week PN reported some MLAs approved the idea of issuing Argentine visitors with visas in order to control the size of groups of Argentines visiting at one time. 
MLA Summers said Falklands visa regime was different from the UK regime: “However we would inevitably consult HMG for their view on any proposals”. ”Visas are a matter for the Falkland Islands Government to determine,” confirmed Member of Legislative Assembly Mike Summers this week.Reacting to a story in last Friday’s Penguin News the Argentine Foreign Minister Susana Malcorra claimed in the Argentine press it was not for the Islanders but the UK government to make decisions over visas.
The Penguin News story had noted that some MLAs approved of the idea of issuing Argentine visitors with visas in order to control the size of groups of Argentines visiting at one time.
The argument is it might reduce incidents of distressing nationalist behavior by visitors.
MLA Summers told Penguin News the Falklands visa regime was different from the UK regime: “However we would inevitably consult HMG for their view on any proposals“.
Speaking to the Argentine media, MLA Summers said that Falklands authorities want to prevent ”antisocial conducts“ given the growing number of complaints from Islanders regarding distressing and disrespectful attitudes from individual visiting Argentines.
MLA Summers described as ”aggressions“ graffiti in public places and buildings, exhibition of nationalistic banners and flags which threaten peace in the Falklands, and noisy disrespectful behavior which makes some people feel harassment and anguish.
”It is the responsibility of the Falklands government to ensure that none of its citizens is improperly distressed or anguished by visitors behavior, and particularly to protect those who have suffered traumas associated with the invasion of the Falklands in 1982”.
Top Comments
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Read all commentsThe Falklands could go for independence and sign a defence treaty with the UK.
May 06th, 2017 - 05:40 pm +5Problem solved.
AustrOllOpithecus
May 06th, 2017 - 06:13 pm +5Carefull, your anglophobia is on display again.
“Who or what flies into its territory.”
As long as Argentina is in compliance of international law then there is no problem.
Chicago Convention
right of passage
closure of airspace
• in exceptional circumstances, or during national emergencies, State may temporarily restrict or prohibit flights over a portion or all of its territory (Article 9)
The International Air Services Transit Agreement, 1944
containing what has come to be known as “The Two Freedoms” :-
1) The privilege to fly across the territory of a state without landing;
2) The privilege to land for non-traffic purposes;
gordo1
Why should they have to acquire visas to visit the Falkland Islands?
The reason is because the Referendum of 2013, as an act of self-determination has conferred limited quasi-independence to the Islanders.
We as a nation need to grow some b$%^ and go ahead with the visas for all the Argentine nationals that wish to visit us. We need to also ask where are they staying while here, why they wish to visit. Also anyone caught wearing clothing with Malvinas, flag waving on will be arrested until the next flight in and deported stamped in their passports. The last group of school kids that came here from Chalten had been ripped off by one of their own Countymen that live here in the Islands, they stayed at his rented house, some sleeping on floor, this should not be allowed to happen. Why did the local officals at the airport let them in if they had no proper beds to sleep. ....thought they asked when stamping their passports where they were staying, the house was not in a fit condition for them as a group, even though we heard later that the owner of the house was called to Customs for a telling off...
May 05th, 2017 - 09:58 am +4Commenting for this story is now closed.
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