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Falkland Islands sovereignty dispute: Difference between revisions

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Revision as of 18:44, 1 October 2005 editSoLando (talk | contribs)Extended confirmed users14,646 edits I know this is pedantic, but it was not the United Kingdom at that time!← Previous edit Revision as of 19:52, 1 October 2005 edit undoSoLando (talk | contribs)Extended confirmed users14,646 editsm changed to period flag for GBNext edit →
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Revision as of 19:52, 1 October 2005

Timeline of de facto control
1764 - 1767 France
1765 - 1774 Great Britain
1767 - 1811 File:Spain flag large.png Spain
1811 - 1820 Uninhabited
1820 - 1833 File:Argentina flag large.png Argentina
1833 - 1982 File:Uk flag large.png United Kingdom
April - June 1982 File:Argentina flag large.png Argentina
1982 - File:Uk flag large.png United Kingdom

The Falkland Islands are an archipelago in the South Atlantic. The islands have been subject to rival sovereignty claims since their discovery in the early 17th century. Spain, France, Argentina and the United Kingdom have all maintained colonies on the islands at some point. The islands are currently adminstered by the United Kingdom, a position recognised by most countries in the world. Argentina also claims the islands. The sovereignty dispute escalated in 1982, when the Falklands War was fought following an Argentine invasion of the islands.

Argentine claim

Argentina considers that the islands were a Spanish territory and that they passed to Argentine sovereignty when Argentina became independent in 1816 (a principle known as uti possedetis). They maintain that the islands were first discovered by Magallanes, that the Spanish bought out the French settlement and that Britain had abandoned her settlement (in 1774). The Spanish also maintained that while they allowed a British settlement on the islands, they did not concede sovereignty to the British. Further, they consider that Britain ceded its rights over the islands at the Nootka Sound Convention in 1790. When Argentina established a settlement on the islands in 1820, they were uninhabited. Thus they consider the British invasion of 1833 to have been in breach of international law. On June 17, 1833, Manuel Moreno, the Argentine ambassador to the United Kingdom, delivered a formal complaint. From that moment onwards, Argentina has always contested what they regard as the British occupation of the islands.

Another argument advanced by the Argentine governments is the fact that the islands are located on the continental shelf facing Argentina, which would give them a claim, as stated in the 1958 UN Convention on the Continental Shelf. The islands are included in the United Nations list of Non-Self-Governing Territories as territories to be considered for decolonisation.

Finally, the Argentine government states that the fact that the current population of the islands is purely British is not a valid argument for British possession of the islands, as it is a result of the British occupation of 1833, which Argentina considers to have been illegal, and in which the Argentine population was expelled by force.

In Argentina it is considered that in 1982 Argentine forces retomaron ("retook") the islands, while in the UK the word "invaded" is normally used.

British claim

Britain claims that according to treaties signed with Spain, all land not under 'effective control' was open to colonisation even if it was within the territory allocated to Spain under the treaty of Tordesillas (an agreement made by the Catholic church between Spain and Portugal, but not recognised by any other nation).

Britain claims that the Spanish ceded sovereignty over the areas settled by the British and that Britain did not relinquish sovereignty when Port Egmont was abandoned in 1774. Furthermore Britain states that Argentina's claimed inheritance under the principle of uti possedetis is not accepted as a general principle of international law. Thus the British claim that the 1820 Argentine settlement was on British territory. Britain sees the events of 1833 as a legitimate retaking of the islands and the 1982 military efforts by Argentina as an invasion.

Britain also cites the right of the islanders to self-determination and the continuous settlement since 1833—some families have been on the islands for more than five generations—as justification for continuing British sovereignty.