MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Legislator Goss takes Falklands' voice to the UN: “We have nothing to hide”

Goss, a sixth-generation Islander whose ancestor arrived at Port Louis from Stoke-on-Trent in 1841, intervened without political or diplomatic career credentials

The Member of the Falkland Islands Legislative Assembly Michael Goss on Tuesday presented the archipelago's position before the Regional Seminar of the United Nations Special Committee on Decolonisation, known as the Committee of 24, held in Managua, Nicaragua. In his address, Goss defended the right to self-determination of the inhabitants of the archipelago, reiterated the Legislative Assembly's invitation for the body to send a visiting mission to the Islands, and questioned Argentina's failure to comply with the bilateral cooperation package agreed with the United Kingdom in September 2024.

“We have nothing to hide and everything to show,” said the legislator, who represents Camp, the rural constituency that covers the countryside and outlying settlements of the archipelago. Goss, a sixth-generation Islander whose ancestor arrived at Port Louis from Stoke-on-Trent in 1841, intervened without political or diplomatic career credentials. “I am not a diplomat or career politician. I am here because I am a Falkland Islander, and decisions about our future should be informed by the voice of someone who actually lives it,” he said. The Regional Seminar, held annually in advance of the committee's main session in New York, brings together representatives of UN member states, administering powers, and non-self-governing territories.

The legislator recalled that in the 2013 referendum, with a turnout of 92%, 99.8% of the inhabitants voted to retain the status of British Overseas Territory. The consultation was observed by an international mission led by the United States and including Canada, Mexico, Uruguay, Paraguay, Chile, and New Zealand, whose conclusion was that the process reflected “the democratic will” of the Islands' electorate. Goss added that the December 2024 legislative elections, which gave him his seat, were observed by the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association, which described the process as “calm and well-administered.” Turnout in his Camp constituency reached 90%.

The legislator also detailed the current institutional model. The archipelago, comprising a community of 3,600 people and 62 nationalities, governs itself with its own laws, a budget entirely funded by its local economy, and an independent immigration policy. The United Kingdom is limited to the areas of defence and international affairs, defined as necessary given the Argentine claim sustained for nearly two centuries. Goss objected to the annual resolution that the Committee of 24 considers regarding the archipelago, arguing that a bilateral process between London and Buenos Aires that ignores the inhabitants “is not dialogue, it is a demand dressed up as a diplomatic process,” given that the Argentine Constitution defines the recovery of sovereignty as a “permanent and non-renounceable” objective.

On the bilateral cooperation package between London and Buenos Aires agreed in September 2024, Goss noted that the Falklands delivered in December of that year by organizing and facilitating the visit of relatives of the Argentine soldiers buried in the archipelago, while Argentina has not advanced the resumption of the São Paulo flight or the exchange of fisheries information. “We remain willing. We ask only that commitments made are honoured,” the Island legislator concluded.

Falkland Islands - Regional Seminar - Statement 26.05.2026 by MercoPress