MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Argentina will take the Falklands’ oil drilling case to United Nations

Jorge Taiana and Governor Rios following the “very positive” meeting

Argentina will be taking the case of oil exploration in Falkland Islands waters by private companies licensed by the Islands government to the United Nations, but not to the International Court of The Hague as had been suggested since the London/Buenos Aires dispute resumed a few weeks ago.

Argentine Foreign Affairs Minister Jorge Taiana and Tierra del Fuego, Antarctic and South Atlantic Islands Governor Fabiana Ríos agreed to “work together” between the nation and the province on the controversy triggered by the imminent exploration for oil in the Malvinas islands, where an oil rig is expected to arrive sometime next week.

After a longer-than-an-hour meeting with the Foreign Ministry, Ríos pointed out that any legal report the Argentina may elaborate on the United Kingdom may be before the United Nations, but not before its main judicial organ.

“There are forums where complaints like this one can be reported, one of those forums is the United Nations itself,” Ríos explained.

Last week Governor Ríos with the support from other Patagonian provincial leaders rejected the announced drilling for oil in Falklands waters, following on the line set by the federal government.

Under the Argentine constitutions Governor Ríos has jurisdiction over the Falklands and other South Atlantic islands since that is how it has been established, with Ushuaia as the capital.

Minister Taiana reiterated that Argentina will continue with its standing claim over the Islands sovereignty and to protest the “illegal, unauthorized exploration in the Argentine continental shelf”.

“As we have said all along and anticipated when we knew about the oil rig coming to the South Atlantic, our claim remains firm and permanent. We are going to take all necessary measures in the legal and diplomatic framework to preserver our rights and our resources. About this we have talked with Governor Rios”, said Taiana.

“In the United Nations we have our presence and reiterated sovereignty claim and certainly we shall be pushing the issue before the Decolonization Committee next June, and we will not let go by any chance, opportunity when it arises”, added the Argentine official.

Taiana described the meeting with Governor Ríos as “very good, very constructive, very positive”. The Foreign Affairs ministry has responsibility over foreign policy and “in foreign policy the question of the Malvinas Islands has a fundamental priority”.

Finally the minister again warned that all those corporations which “directly or indirectly” collaborate with the exploitation of hydrocarbons in the Malvinas territory will be exposed and responsible for violating the Argentine legal system.
“All those cases where companies collaborate in the hydrocarbons issue directly or indirectly in territory under Argentine sovereignty and that do not have the adequate authorization, will be responsible”, underlined Taiana.