MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Argentina again calls on UK for peaceful solution to Falklands/Malvinas dispute

Santiago Cafiero with part of the Argentine delegation addressing C24

As announced the Argentine foreign minister Santiago Cafiero on Tuesday morning, in New York, before the United Nations Special Committee on Decolonization again called on the United Kingdom for bilateral negotiations with Argentina for a pacific and definitive solution to the sovereignty dispute over the Malvinas Islands.

Cafiero made his presentation during a session dedicated to addressing the Malvinas Question at the UN C24, next to a numerous delegation which included besides government officials, representatives from the opposition. “So far the Argentine government has not received a favorable reply to its delivered proposal,” underlined the foreign minister.

La ONU aprobó, en su Comité Especial de Descolonización, la resolución por la Cuestión Malvinas.

La posición de la Argentina es perseverante y sigue sumando apoyo en favor de las negociaciones. #MalvinasNosUne porque es una causa nacional y regional y es política de Estado. pic.twitter.com/qt4Tdq5ENU

— Santiago Cafiero (@SantiagoCafiero) June 20, 2023

Following the Argentine petitions from Clara Vernet and Mercedes Moyano Walker, Cafiero insisted, “On March second I proposed to the UK Foreign Secretary, James Cleverly a renewed bilateral agenda for the South Atlantic with the purpose of complying with the mandates from the pertinent resolutions from the UN General Assembly. To achieve such objective I proposed to the British Government the establishment of a formal process of negotiations, transparent and based in good faith, with periodic meetings, where issues of mutual interest could be addressed, among them, resuming sovereignty negotiations, connectivity of the Islands with Argentine continental territory, practical measures to guarantee the interests and way of life of the Islands inhabitants, conservation of natural resources and de-militarization of those areas under dispute”.

“Recently the UK again lifted to a disproportionate and unjustified level military presence in the South Atlantic with the deployment of a contingent of the so called, ”Security Forces from Kosovo,“ remarked the Argentine head of diplomats. Besides he underlined the significance of giving continuity to the humanitarian tasks of identifying former combatants remains, buried in the Islands, in the framework of emerging obligations under International Humanitarian Law and with the purpose of providing answers and solace to the families”.

Cafiero went on, “the commitment of Argentina with the recovery of its sovereignty exercise right through peaceful means, respecting the way of life of the inhabitants of the Islands, are enshrined in the Argentine Constitution. The UK on the other hand behaves as if the dispute did not exist and pretends to advance with a policy of faits accomplis in the South Atlantic.”

Further on, the Argentine official complained that the British government has adopted decisions regarding the Malvinas Islands. “The British colonial government is unilaterally granting fishing licenses in areas adjoining the Malvinas Islands and in 2021 announced that it would extend those unilateral licenses for 25 years, beginning 2031, which makes it impossible to maintain a bilateral cooperation scheme regarding the conservation of fishing resources. Likewise the UK continues to advance with the illegitimate exploration and exploitation of hydrocarbon resources in the disputed area.”

The UN Special Committee on Decolonization, C24, adopted, by consensus, a new resolution that iterates as it has done since 1983, calling on UK and Argentina to resume negotiations for a peaceful and definitive solution to the sovereignty controversy over the Malvinas, South Georgia and South Sandwich islands, and its adjoining maritime spaces.

The resolution was sponsored by all Latin American countries and members of the Special Committee on Decolonization, Chile, Bolivia, Ecuador, Cuba, Nicaragua and Venezuela. Similarly in the framework of the session, other C 24 countries also participated in support of the resumption of sover Antigua and Barbuda, Bolivia, Chile, China, Congo, Ivory Coast, Cuba, Dominica, Ecuador, Ethiopia, Fiji, Granada, India, Indonesia, Irán, Iraq, Malí, Nicaragua, Papúa Nueva Guinea, Rusia, San Cristóbal y Nieves, Santa Lucía, Sierra Leona, Syria, East Timor, Tunisia, St Vincent and the Grenadines.

C 24 currently has 29 member countries, Antigua y Barbuda, Bolivia, Chile, China, Congo, Ivory Coast, Cuba, Dominica, Ecuador, Etiopía, Fiji, Granada, India, Indonesia, Irán, Iraq, Malí, Nicaragua, Papúa Nueva Guinea, Rusia, San Cristóbal y Nieves, Santa Lucía, San Vicente y las Granadinas, Sierra Leona, República Árabe Siria, Timor-Leste, Túnez, Tanzania and Venezuela. As to the number of pending colonial situations considered by C 24they are seventeen, of which eleven involve the UK, among which the Malvinas Question.

Cafiero was accompanied by the governor of Tierra del Fuego, Gustavo Melella, plus numerous government and opposition lawmakers, both from the Lower House and the Senate, plus permanent Argentine diplomatic staff in the US, ambassador at UN Maria del Carmen Squeff head of the foreign ministry cabinet Luciana Tito, head of the Malvinas and South Atlantic Islands Desk, Sandra Pitta, and Guillermo Carmona who leads the Malvinas, Antarctica and South Atlantic Office.