The Malvinas/Falkland Islands Dispute and International Law

• In Event: El Conflicto de las Islas Malvinas: Estado de la Cuestion e Impactos Regionales

Abstract

The question of the Malvinas/Falkland Islands concerns a territorial sovereignty dispute between Argentina and the United Kingdom over the Malvinas/Falklands, South Georgia and South Sandwich Islands and the surrounding maritime areas.The origin of dispute can be established on 3 January 1833, when Great Britain expelled the newly independent State of Argentina from the Islands at a time of peaceful and friendly relations between the two States, after having Argentina inherited the territory from Spain and having acted as sole sovereign of it since its independence.
The United Nations has characterized theMalvinas/Falklandsquestion as a special and particular colonial case. The specificity of the lies in the fact that theUN General Assembly has determined that the way to put an end to this special colonial situation is through negotiations between Argentina and the United Kingdom in order to settle their sovereignty dispute. The current inhabitants of the islands are not considered to be a people entitled to self-determination, and the colonial situation disrupts the national unity and the territorial integrity of Argentina. The interests of their current British inhabitants must be taken into account while settling the dispute, but not making them the arbitrators between their country and the State having suffered the disruption of their territorial integrity.
The lecture will address the competing claims of sovereignty and the relevant rules applied in the context of decolonization, in particular the relationship between territorial integrity and self-determination. It will also briefly refer to the obligation for States to settle their international disputes through peaceful means.

Author

• Marcelo Kohen, Graduate Institute of International Studies