MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Falklands MLAs in US and Canada, including “moving the dial at C24” on self determination

Falklands team with Canadian chapter of Commonwealth Parliamentary Association

The Falklands team has ended its successful tour and contacts in Canada, following on a very busy June in the US holding meetings with members of the US Congress, State Department, and NGOs, plus the annual farce of the United Nations Special Decolonization Committee, or C24, where its members, many of them with governments in open violation of the UN charter principles, particularly when it comes to human rights and peoples' rights, have the time to openly support Argentina's claim over the Falkland Islands.

In Canada lawmakers MLAs Teslyn Barkman and Gavin Short, plus Falklands junior ambassador Benjamin Bahamonde Wastavino visited Parliament in Ottawa and met among others with members of the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association, and Canadian representatives Michael Chong MP, Conservative Shadow foreign minister, Alexandra Mendes MP, Assistant Deputy Speaker belonging to the incumbent Liberal party, and former foreign and trade minister Francois Champagne, also Liberal.

The visiting team besides giving their hosts Falklands' teams hockey vests, discussed democratic governance, fisheries and education, while Conservative Chong also made it a point of underlining the significance of his party's support for Islanders self determination.

Since before travelling to Canada de Falklands team attended the C24 meeting, MLA Gavin Short made some comments to Penguin News about his experience, and was optimistic that at the UN meeting some members are starting to “move the dial a bit”, when it come to convincing countries about people's right to self determination.

MLA Short told PNe that the trip had “gone rather well” in terms of meeting members of political parties in Washington “up on the hill as well as in the State Department.”

He added in New York they had spent their time in some “pretty heavy lobbying sessions.”

Speaking specifically of the C24 MLA Short said it was the, “most encouraging session I’ve ever had in that room,” indicating that a number of countries had begun to speak of the “rights of peoples self determination; some are still talking about interests which I find rather colonial rather disappointing... but I think we are starting to move the dial bit by bit.”

MLA Short said: “We are chipping away at this bit by bit - it’s a long, long journey. We are not going to give an inch and one day I hope the world will wake up and realize that we the people of the Falkland Islands will say what can happen to and in our country.”

Falkland Islands Junior Ambassador Benjamin Bahamonde Wastavino who accompanied the MLAs said after spending time at the C24 he now appreciated how much work went into defending the Islanders right to self determination.

He added that it was disheartening to see the continued attitude from the opposing side but that was expected. It was good to see some progress, however, and “we just have to keep pushing.” He thanked the MLAs for the “once in a lifetime opportunity.”