Falklanders go to UN over Argentina sovereignty claim

Representatives of the Falkland Islands today went to the United Nations in New York to defend their right to remain a British territory, as Argentina renewed its claim on the archipelago which it knows as the Malvinas.

Argentinian foreign minister Hector Timerman was addressing the UN's Special Committee on Decolonisation to restate Argentina's calls for the UK to enter negotiations over the sovereignty of the south Atlantic islands.

But Falklands legislative assembly members Sharon Halford and Mike Summers were also appearing before the committee to rebuff Mr Timerman's demands, and to urge the UN to respect the overwhelming result of this year's referendum, in which islanders voted by 1,513 to three to remain a British overseas territory.

The committee has previously backed Argentinian calls for negotiations over sovereignty, but the Foreign Office in London today insisted that body "no longer has a relevant role to play" with respect to British overseas territories, arguing that it was "insulting" to describe their relationship with the UK as colonial.

Mrs Halford said that the message from the referendum in March was clear: "We, the people of the Falklands, are happy with our current relationship with the UK. It is not an anachronistic or colonial situation as characterised by Argentina, but a modern relationship where the UK listens to our wishes and we are responsible for our own internal self-government."

She told the committee: "I hope that the islanders have spoken loudly enough for people to hear them around the world."

Mr Summers said that the committee had previously "prioritised the interests of certain member states over the wishes of the peoples it is supposed to be assisting" and urged members to "examine their collective conscience" and support Falklanders' right, under successive UN resolutions, to self-determination.

He invited the committee to visit the Falklands to hear islanders' views, and told them: "We are very clearly a people in our own right, who have the right to be heard. No member of the UN can reasonably deny that right and for that reason alone, you should not support the expansionist Argentine agenda."

Today's meeting comes 31 years after the successful military operation to retake the islands from an Argentinian invasion force, and one year after Argentinian president Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner reignited the row over the Falklands by appearing before the same committee.

In a statement, the Argentinian Embassy in London said that the country will use the hearing to "ratify its full commitment to finding a peaceful solution to the sovereignty dispute with the United Kingdom, as requested by 40 United Nations resolutions".