Argentina – UK Dispute over Malvinas to Continue after UN Decision

March 30th, 2016

Awake Goy

Christof Lehmann (nsnbc) : Touted as victory by Argentina and largely ignored in the UK, the UN Subcommittee on the Limits of the Continental Shelf (CLCS) accepted Argentina’s expansion of its maritime exclusive economic zone. The decision does not solve the sovereignty dispute about the Islas Malvinas or Falklands Islands. It may, however, have an impact on future exploration of oil resources; A factor that could motivate the UK to be more “cooperative” in solving the territorial dispute.

Port Stanley, Islas Malvinas / Falkland Islands.

The CLCS decided to recognize the expansion of Argentina’s EEZ to 200 miles. The expanded Argentinian EEZ thus encompasses the disputed Islas Malvinas or Falkland Islands. The CLCS decision was, however, not based on disputes about sovereignty but on the geological factors that show that the Malvinas / Falklands are part of the continental shelf off the Argentinian coast.

The CLCS was established in 1982 by the United Nations under the 1982 UN Convention on the Law of the Sea. Its task is not to settle territorial or sovereignty disputes but to verify the data submitted by UN member States to determine the limit of its continental shelf.

By implication, it determines the area within which a UN member State has access to resources. For comparison, the CLCS also determines to which extend data submitted by UN member States that claim stakes in the increasingly attractive Arctic region are correct or not while the CLCS is neither tasked with, nor authorized to settle territorial disputes or disputes about sovereignty over territories.

Argentina and the UK waged a brief but bloody war over the Malvinas / Falklands in 1982, when Argentina decided to settle the territorial dispute be militarily and British Prime Minister Thatcher underpinned her reputation as “The Iron Lady”.

The UK has since then held a referendum on the Islands in which the vast majority of the occupants of the Islands voted in favor of the UK. Argentina has challenged the outcome of the referendum on several grounds. One of them was that the referendum had no legal basis; Another was that the referendum was “questionable”; And Argentina notes that the UK has significantly changed the demographics of the disputed Islands before the referendum. The UK stresses that the referendum was legal, legitimate and that the majority of the inhabitants of the rocky islands are British and want to remain British.

A look at a map would make most people worldwide question what the questions about the Islands are all about. Located off the coat of Argentina and on the South American continental shelf, as the CLCS confirmed, it is hard for most members of the “international community” to understand what claims the UK, obviously located in Europe and an entire Atlantic Ocean width away could have.

But then again, what is “the international community” in a world where politics and international justice are based on social constructionism and utilitarianism. With the UK being a permanent UN Security Council member with veto right and with the UNSC ultimately being the UN institution that has to settle the dispute, regardless whether it be peacefully or not, the answer should be obvious. The international community is more British than Argentinian while the Islands are more Argentinian than British.

The CLCS recognition of Argentina’s expansion of its EEZ does, however, give Argentina an additional and weighty argument, should it begin to explore what is considered as one of the world’s largest known off shore oil repositories. And who knows, if Argentina involves British Petroleum (BP) in such an exploration, the laws of economics might turn out to be more efficient than the laws of the sea and better at preventing armed conflict than the UN Security Council.