PLEASE NOTE: Although I have divided the "Sovereignty dispute" into sub-sections, the sub-headings shall be deleted upon completion of the new text.

Sovereignty dispute

Background (brief history): Limit 2 paragraphs

NOTE: Only edit this if you really, really, really, really, really, really (and so on) think something crucial is missing.

The United Kingdom and Argentina claim responsibility for the Falkland Islands. The modern dispute inititated shortly after the formation of the United Nations in 1945. That year, Argentina reasserted its right to sovereignty over the Falkland Islands and its dependencies. In 1964, the United Nations passed a resolution calling on the UK and Argentina to proceed with negotiations over the sovereignty dispute.^[1]

Whilst maintaining the British claim for sovereignty, the British Government considered transfer of sovereignty worthy of improved relations with Argentina. However, the British Government had limited room for manoeuvre owing to the strength of the Falkland Islands lobby in the Houses of Parliament. During the late 1960s, the Falklanders protested against secret negotiations between the British Foreign Office and Argentine government, which sought to find a way by which the islands could be peacefully transferred to Argentina while also protecting the rights and way of life of the Islanders.^[2]

This led to the British Government maintaining a position that the right to self-determination of the Islanders was paramount. In return, Argentina did not recognise the rights of the Islanders and so negotiations on the sovereignty issue effectively remained at a stalemate.^[3] Argentina reiterated its position towards the Falklanders in 2012, after a meeting of the UN Decolonization Committee, when its representatives refused to accept a letter from the Falkland Islands offering the opening of direct talks between both governments. Argentina only recognises the UK government as a legitimate partner in negotiations.^[4][5]

After the 1982 Falklands War, the United Kingdom and Argentina severed their diplomatic relations until 1990.^[6] In 2007, Argentina reasserted its claim over the Falkland Islands, asking for the UK to resume talks on sovereignty.^[7] In 2009, British Prime Minister Gordon Brown met with Argentine President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner, and declared that there would be no talks over the future sovereignty of the Falkland Islands.^[8] As far as the United Kingdom and of the Falkland Islands are concerned, no pending issue to resolve exists.^[9][10][11]

Islanders' Position and (possibly) short analysis of what may happen in the future: Limit 1 paragraph

The Falkland Islanders consistently reject the Argentine sovereignty claim, and have consistently stated a preference to retains links to the United Kingdom. In 2010, Falklands correspondent Tom Leonard, from British newspaper The Daily Telegraph, wrote that "The 3,000-strong community is already proudly British [...]. The younger islanders may not share the older generation’s memories but there is clearly no love lost with the Argentines among them, too".^[12] On 12 June 2012, the Falkland Islands government announced it would hold a referendum on the political status of the islands in the first half of 2013, with the objective of sending "a firm message to Argentina that islanders want to remain British".^[13]

Possibly Important Text that Should go Somewhere, Elsewhere, or Nowhere

• Although the United Nations Special Committee on Decolonization includes the Falkland Islands on the United Nations list of Non-Self-Governing Territories,^[14] the Encyclopedia of the Nations asserts that the Falkland Islands is one of 16 territories which have too small a population "to survive as viable, fully independent state."^[15]

• In 1998, in retaliation for the arrest in London of the former Chilean president Augusto Pinochet, the Chilean government banned flights between Punta Arenas and Stanley, thus isolating the islands from the rest of the world. Uruguay and Brazil refused to authorise direct flights between their territories and Stanley. This forced the islands' government to enter negotiations with the Argentine government and led to Argentina authorising direct flights between its territory and Stanley, on condition that Argentine citizens be allowed on the islands.^[16]

• Under his government the Argentine and the United Kingdom (acting on behalf of the Falkland Islands) set up the South Atlantic Fisheries Commission (SAFC) in 1990 to exchange information and to coordinate fishing activities in the South Atlantic^[17]

• In 1994, Argentina reformed its constitution and, among other changes, included a statement declaring that this claim must be pursued in a manner "respectful of the way of life of their inhabitants and according to the principles of international law".^[18]

• Néstor Kirchner, campaigning for president in 2003, regarded the islands as a top priority, taking actions such as banning flights to the Falklands from Argentine airspace. In June 2003 the issue was brought before a United Nations committee, and attempts have been made to open talks with the United Kingdom to resolve the issue of the islands.^[6]

• In October 2007 a British spokeswoman confirmed that Britain intended to submit a claim^[19] to the UN to extend seabed territory around the Falklands and South Georgia, in advance of the expiry of the deadline^[20] for territorial claims following Britain's ratification of the 1982 Law of the Sea Convention.^[21] This claim would enable Britain to control activities such as fishing within the zone, in areas not conflicting with the Antarctic Treaty.^[22] Argentina has indicated it will challenge any British claim to Antarctic territory and the area around the Falkland Islands and South Georgia.^[23] Argentina made a similar claim in 2009,^[24] and the United Kingdom quickly protested against these claims.^[25]

• Since 2005 the South Atlantic Fisheries Commission has been largely moribund as the Argentine Government reduced co-operation, declining to continue the routine joint meeting process and suspending joint scientific activities^[17] and in 2009, when delegates from the Falkland Islands were invited to an international fisheries sustainability conference convened by Spain, the Argentine delegation protested and walked out of the conference.^[6][26] In February 2010, the Argentine government announced that ships traversing Argentine territorial waters en route to the Falklands, South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands would require a permit, as part of a dispute over British oil exploration near the Falklands. The British and Falkland governments stated that Falklands-controlled waters were unaffected.^[27] In February 2012, two cruise liners were prevented from docking in the port of Ushuaia in the Argentinian province of Tierra del Fuego apparently because they had vistied the Falklands.^[28]

Notes