Today, the United Nations Special Committee on Decolonization (C-24) adopted by consensus a new resolution reiterating the call on the United Kingdom and Argentina to resume negotiations aimed at finding, as soon as possible, a peaceful and definitive solution to the sovereignty dispute over the Malvinas, South Georgias and South Sandwich Islands and the surrounding maritime areas.
Foreign Minister Felipe Solá stated that “the recovery of full exercise of sovereignty over the Malvinas Islands is a State policy and a sentiment of the Argentine people.”
“The UN Decolonization Committee expressly recognizes that there is a sovereignty dispute and calls on Argentina and the United Kingdom to engage in dialogue, and our country once again reiterates its permanent willingness to negotiate,” Solá stated after the UN committee approved the resolution.
The pronouncement was co-sponsored by all the Latin American countries that are Members of the Special Committee: Chile, Bolivia, Cuba, Ecuador, Nicaragua and Venezuela. Every year since 1983, the Special Committee calls on Argentina and the United Kingdom to resume negotiations in accordance with Resolution 2065 (XX) and subsequent resolutions of the General Assembly with regard to the Question of the Malvinas Islands.
The Secretary for the Malvinas, Antarctica and South Atlantic, Daniel Filmus, highlighted the “need to resume substantive dialogue on the sovereignty dispute” and urged the United Kingdom to “comply with the duty imposed by International Law to resolve the dispute peacefully and put an end to this anachronistic colonial situation.”
Furthermore, he added that “Argentina has made historic progress towards consolidating sovereignty over the Malvinas Islands after the National Congress unanimously adopted a law establishing the National Council for Malvinas Islands Affairs, a pluralist body aimed at outlining and maintaining medium and long-term State policies.”
The Special Committee on Decolonization, established in 1961 as a subsidiary organ of the United Nations General Assembly, is responsible for ensuring the implementation of Resolution 1514 (XV) of the United Nations General Assembly by annually examining the 17 remaining colonial situations and adopting resolutions aimed at making progress towards the end of colonialism.
The call by the United Nations for resumption of negotiations between Argentina and the United Kingdom as a means to solve the dispute is supported by several multilateral fora, such as the Organization of American States (OAS), MERCOSUR, G77+China, the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC) and the Ibero-American Summits, among others. Nevertheless, the United Kingdom persistently refuses to resume negotiations in this regard.
