Falkland Islands Sovereignty Dispute - Sovereignty Discussions

Sovereignty Discussions

When the Republic of Buenos Aires became aware of events in the Falkland Islands it filed a formal protest with the British representative. The following year the British Government rejected it. The issue was debated annually in the Argentine Congress and a formal protest issued until 1849. The matter was not raised again until 1941. The British Government considers that the Convention of Settlement settled all existing differences between the two nations and there were no further protests until 1885, when Argentina included the Falkland Islands in an officially sponsored map. In 1888, Argentina made an offer to have the matter subject to arbitration but this was rejected by the British Government. Other than the protest lodged in 1885, the British Government does not acknowledge any further protests by Argentina till the 1940s, although the official position of the Argentine Government is that "During the first half of the twentieth century, the successive Argentine governments made it standard practice to submit protests to the United Kingdom". The Argentine Government does not identify these annual protests but authors such as Roberto Laver claim at least "27 sovereignty claims, both to Britain, domestically in Argentina and to international bodies". In International Law, territorial claims are usually considered defunct if there is a gap of 50 years or more between protests over sovereignty.

Following World War II, the British Empire declined and colonies in Asia, Africa and the Caribbean gained their independence. Argentina saw this as an opportunity to push its case for gaining sovereignty over the Falkland Islands and raised the issue in the United Nations, first stating its claim after joining the UN in 1945. Following the Argentine claim, the United Kingdom offered to take the dispute over the Falkland Island Dependencies to mediation at the International Court of Justice in The Hague (1947, 1948 and 1955); on each occasion Argentina declined.

In 1964, the United Nations passed a resolution calling on the UK and Argentina to proceed with negotiations on finding a peaceful solution to the sovereignty question which would be "bearing in mind the provisions and objectives of the Charter of the United Nations and of General Assembly resolution 1514 (XV) and the interests of the population of the Falkland Islands (Malvinas)."

A series of talks between the two nations took place over the next 17 years until 1981 but failed to reach a conclusion on sovereignty.

Following the signing of the Communications Agreement, on 3 July 1971 the Argentine Air Force broke the islands' airways isolation by opening an air route with an amphibious flight from Comodoro Rivadavia with Grumman HU-16B Albatross aircraft operated by LADE, Argentina's military airline. In 1972, after an Argentine request, the United Kingdom agreed to allow Argentina to construct a temporary air strip near Stanley. On 15 November 1972 a temporary runway was inaugurated with the first arrival of a Fokker F-27 with subsequent flights arriving twice weekly. Flights were improved in 1978 with Fokker F-28 jets following the completion of a permanent runway funded by the British Government. This service, representing the only connection by air to the islands, was maintained until the 1982 war.

Also YPF, which was then the Argentine national oil and gas company, was in charge of supplying the island regularly.