MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Immediate Argentine reaction to UK’s Falklands’ sea shelf submission

Taiana insist with argentine sovereignty of South Atlantic Islands

The Argentine government expressed on Monday its most vigorous rejection to “the United Kingdom’s pretension to establish maritime spaces round the Malvinas, South Georgia and South Sandwich islands, which are part of Argentine national territory”.

On Monday the UK made official its submission in respect of its extended continental shelf claim around the Falkland Islands, South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands. The UK submission was made to the UN Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf (CLCS).

“British insistence in pretending to arrogate competence over the Malvinas, South Georgia and South Sandwich Islands and adjoining maritime spaces is unacceptable and inadmissible because the exercise of such competence belongs only to the sovereign state of the Argentine Republic”, said Argentine Foreign Affairs minister Jorge Taiana.

“Successful completion of this process will confirm the boundaries of the UK’s jurisdiction over its continental shelf, thus ensuring our sovereign rights to manage the shelf for future generations”, said Foreign Office Minister, Lord Malloch-Brown following the presentation.

According to the official Foreign Office release the CLCS will now consider the data presented by the UK, with a view to determining the extent of the UK continental shelf beyond 200 nautical miles in that area. The UK’s submission is in accordance with the provisions of Article 76 of the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea.

“The Argentine government will formally protest before the Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf any UK initiative which pretends to extend its illegal occupation of part of Argentine territory” added Taiana. It will also denounce and protest “this new unilateral action perpetrated by the UK in open violation of Argentine sovereignty and what has been established by the international community”.

The Taiana statement adds that because of the illegitimate British occupation of Argentine territory, “the UN assembly and the Decolonization Committee have acknowledged with reiteration the existence of a sovereignty dispute over the Malvinas, South Georgia and South Sandwich islands and the surrounding maritime spaces”, and that the only two sides involved, the UK and Argentina, have been called to resume as soon as possible bilateral negotiations to find a peaceful, fair and lasting solution to this anachronic dispute.

Further on it argues that in strict abeyance of the UN Law of the Sea Convention, Argentina officially made on April 21st its presentation before the Continental Platform Limits Commission “to determine in a definitive and mandatory way the geographic extension of national territory: the continental portion, the South Atlantic Islands and the Argentine Antarctic Sector. To that effect and in the firm and permanent defence of its sovereignty rights, the Argentine government has taken all the necessary safeguards of its legitimate rights over the Malvinas, South Georgia and South Sandwich islands, which naturally were part of the presentation before United Nations”.

Finally Argentina reaffirms its legitimate sovereignty rights over the Malvinas, South Georgia, South Sandwich Islands and adjoining maritime space which are integral part of the Argentine national territory.