In the South Atlantic, in the Argentinean sea, some 600 kilometers from the coasts of Patagonia, lies the archipelago of the Malvinas Islands, whose sovereignty is tirelessly claimed by Argentina, in view of the illegal occupation of that territory by the United Kingdom since 1833.
By María Josefina Arce
In the South Atlantic, in the Argentinean sea, some 600 kilometers from the coasts of Patagonia, lies the archipelago of the Malvinas Islands, whose sovereignty is tirelessly claimed by Argentina, in view of the illegal occupation of that territory by the United Kingdom since 1833.
This will be precisely one of the battle fronts of Buenos Aires' foreign policy in 2022, on the 40th anniversary of the armed conflict between the two nations that took place from April to June 1982, which resulted in the death of 650 Argentine soldiers and 255 British soldiers.
The government of President Alberto Fernández stated that it will redouble the diplomatic offensive on the historic claim to try to open a negotiation with the United Kingdom. Since taking office in December 2019 Fernandez has kept the issue alive, which was interrupted by his predecessor Mauricio Macri.
Argentina has had in all these years the support of international and regional organizations. In December 1965 the UN General Assembly adopted resolution 2065 urging the two countries to enter into negotiations to find a peaceful and definitive solution to the dispute.
Since that date more than 40 resolutions of that world body and of the UN Special Committee on Decolonization have reiterated that call.
However, the contacts established at the beginning did not progress. The British authorities put countless obstacles, one of them being to link the negotiations to the wishes of the inhabitants of the islands, whose composition is the result of colonization. Buenos Aires has denounced that this argument has no basis in international law and its objective is to preserve the colonial presence in the South Atlantic.
Argentina has always expressed its willingness to negotiate, as regularly demanded by the Decolonization Committee, but for more than four decades London has refused.
Last June the then Argentine Foreign Minister Felipe Solá asked UN Secretary General António Guterres to intercede with the British government to resume talks on the sovereignty of the archipelago.
Argentina has also denounced that the permanence of a military base in the Malvinas is a threat to stability in the region. In fact, it violates UN Resolution 31/49, which prohibits unilateral actions in the disputed area.
It also disregards the declaration of Latin America and the Caribbean as a Zone of Peace, made in 2014, in Havana, at the Second Summit of CELAC, Community of Latin American and Caribbean States.
The full exercise of the sovereignty of the archipelago, respecting the way of life of its inhabitants and in accordance with the principles of international law, is a permanent claim of the people of Argentina.
