DISCURSO EN LA SESIÓN “CUESTIÓN MALVINAS”, DEL COMITÉ DE DESCOLONIZACIÓN DE LA ONU
Mike Summers
[15 de Junio de 2012]
[Versión en inglés]
But I am also disappointed that it should still be necessary to do so, when the people of the Falkland Islands are so clear about their wish to retain their current political arrangements.
Since 2004 the Falkland Islands have moved
on very significantly, both politically and economically. We are a successful
country. I intentionally use the word country, because Falkland Islanders have
a distinct and clear identity, and consider the islands to be our country, our
home. We are committed to the care and well being of our people and the development
of our country for our children and grand-children, and their descendents.
Unfortunately some things have not moved on.
The unwelcome and unsubstantiated claim on our country by Argentina remains,
and is pursued with increasing vigour. The United Nations and this Committee
has over the years carefully attempted to remain neutral over the sovereignty
of the Falkland Islands. However, all resolutions from this Committee and those
from the General Assembly must comply with the principles of the UN Charter. Article
1 of the UN Charter sets out the importance of respect for the principle of
equal rights and self-determination of all peoples.
Argentina will I am sure argue that the
United Nations has ruled out self-determination as applying to the Falkland
Islanders. It has not, even though this Committee studiously ignores its
responsibility to promote the rights to self determination of the Falklands
people. In fact General Assembly resolution 1514 of 1960 explicitly sets out
the right of all peoples to self-determination.
And Argentina will undoubtedly read a long
list of regional and multilateral meetings that call on the UK and Argentina to
negotiate our future above our heads. However I draw your attention to Article
103 of the UN Charter which makes it clear that obligations under the UN
Charter prevail over any and all other international agreements. Member states
obligation to respect the principle of self-determination under the UN Charter
cannot be negotiated away or ignored at convenience, thus rendering all of
Argentina’s regional declarations as irrelevant under international law.
Argentina has called many times for UN
reform, to attempt to achieve its objectives. We agree that UN reform is
needed, but such reform will not change the UN Charter, to which all UN reform
would need to comply; nor would it remove the obligation on this Committee, and
on all member states, to respect the principle of self-determination.
The Falkland Islands are a small country,
about the size of Jamaica, with a population of 3,000. All the people of the
Falkland Islands have arrived and live there of their own free will, from many
parts of the world, including Europe, Latin America, and the Far East. We have
developed our own culture based on a broad variety of influences. We are
rightly proud of our achievements over the last 170 years.
Our economy is strong, based on fishing,
tourism and agriculture, with hydrocarbons exploration bringing additional
economic activity. GDP is over £130m per annum, and GDP per capita is at Northern
European standards. We have no borrowings, and reserves of three times annual
recurrent expenditure of £50m. However, we also have challenges. Due to our
size per capita government expenditure is higher than other countries. Our
relative isolation adds to these costs, and is increased by vindictive
Argentine attempts to stifle our economy.
But despite these challenges, the Falklands
have continued to thrive and to grow, and have been economically self
sufficient for over 20 years, except for the cost of defence which is provided
by the UK. That defence commitment is in place only because of the illegal
invasion of our country in 1982 by Argentina, and Argentina’s continued
aggressive tone towards the inhabitants, and is of a size that is only proportional
to the perceived threat.
The Falkland Islands pay no taxes to the UK,
and receive no income from them. We are responsible for the provision of all
services, including education, health, police, fire and immigration services,
internal transport infrastructure and regulatory services. We issue our own
fishing licenses, and licenses for the exploration for hydrocarbons. All income
which accrues from these licenses, or may accrue from them in the future,
belongs to the Government and people of the Falkland Islands, not the UK. The
Islands are well developed and well served, though still a lot of
infrastructure works remain to be completed over the next few years.
We have a written Constitution which was
last revised in 2009, which confirms our post-colonial status. A small
legislature of 8 independent members from two constituencies makes up the
Government, which is elected for a 4 year fixed term, and is fully responsible
for all matters except defence and foreign affairs. There is clear separation
of executive functions from justice, and from management of the civil service,
as one would expect in a properly functioning democracy. The Constitution
contains a full suite of protections of fundamental rights and freedoms which
accord with the European Convention on Human Rights, including the right to
self-determination; this right also mirrors the provisions of Chapter 1 of the
UN Charter and its other provisions on self-determination.
Falkland Islanders are comfortable with our
post-colonial relationship with the UK. We have the right to move away from
that relationship if we so wish, though there is no current mood in the
community towards independence, or association with any other country. The UK
has very clearly stated that it will not discuss sovereignty of the Islands
unless and until the Islanders so wish it, in accordance with the provisions of
the UN Charter, a Charter which you as members of this Committee are
responsible to uphold. There is specifically no current wish to associate with
Argentina, though we would have the right do so if we so wished.
Argentina still claims the Falkland Islands
despite their claim being based on spurious and dubious historical “facts” and
interpretations. There were no native inhabitants of the Islands, and no
civilian population was expelled. The UK established its first settlement in
the Islands in 1766 (a date which pre-dates the existance of Argentina) and
re-commenced permanent occupation of the Islands in 1833, and current Islands
families have lived in the Falklands since 1843. Some Islanders are now 8th and
9th generation. With us today we have part of the new generation of young
Islanders who have a keen interest in our future development, and who are 4th
5th and 6th generation Islanders. I too am a sixth generation Falkland
Islander. Large swathes of Argentina and other Latin American populations
cannot trace their own families’ history in the region back so far, yet they
enjoy their right to self-determination. Perhaps the Argentine delegates could
tell these young Islanders why they are part of an implanted population, yet
people of similar age in Argentina are not, when our ancestors arrived by
similar means to theirs, and ours in many cases before them. Why don’t we have
the right to self-determination, but they do? Are we in any way less human; are
we second class people with unequal rights, just because we are not Hispanic?
Or are we insignificant because we are too few, free to be abused by a bigger
bullying neighbour?
Of course we are not, and as much as Argentina
might like to air-brush us out of existence, to satisfy its unjustified lust
for our land, such behaviour belongs to another era and should not be tolerated
in this modern world.
Argentina inserted a clause in its
Constitution after the '82 war, pledging to “reclaim” the Islands. It rejects
the concept of self determination for the Falkland Islanders, in contravention
of the principles of the UN Charter and international law. It makes reference
in its Constitution to respecting the “interests” of the Islanders, but not the
“wishes” - “interests” no doubt to be determined by Argentina, and not by us.
Is that not the epitome of colonialism, a country deciding what is in another
distinct peoples “interests” rather than allowing them to decide for themselves.
Argentina effectively seeks to re-colonise the Islands, after decades taken by
several generations of our forefathers to develop our democracy, our land and
our economy to what it is today.
Mr Chairman, Excellencies. What I have
described to you in the Falklands is a small, progressive, internally self
governing and well managed country, keen to develop and to get on with its
neighbours, to preserve the environment for future generations, and to ensure
that our success is based on sustainable use of natural resources. But that
ambition is inhibited and impeded in every which way it can by a very much
larger, aggressive and uncaring neighbour, who doesn't care if it breaks
international laws or subverts the most basic of human rights of people, so long
as it can get our land. The land that my father, my great-grandfathers, my
great-great grandfathers, and their predecessors, made their homes and
developed into a successful country.
Let me repeat, lest anybody should have
missed or mis-understood. There were no native inhabitants of the Falkland
Islands, and no civilian population was expelled, as the Argentines would have
you believe. That is just a convenient lie to make you believe that they have
just cause. They do not.
The Falkland Islands has been peacefully
settled over a century and a half by my ancestors and their fellow pioneers,
from many different parts of the world, who have been free to come and go, but
have chosen to make the Falklands their home, and who have made it into a
successful community. My generations and our children and grand-children, and
these young Islanders here today, have no desire other than to be left in peace
to continue that development, and to make a safe home for future generations of
Falkland Islanders.
It is your duty to ensure we are allowed to
do that, through adherence to the spirit and the letter of the UN Charter, and
to discharge the responsibilities of this Committee, to support the right of
all non-self governing territories, including the Falkland Islands, to self
determination.
Mr Chairman, I invite all Members to recall
and regret the un-timely death of over a thousand young men in the Falklands in
1982, and to condemn the use of military force to attack a small and peaceful
neighbour. On this the 30th Anniversary of our liberation, I invite you to join
me in celebrating freedom, justice, and the right to live in peace and harmony.
Mr Chairman, Excellencies. Argentina calls
for negotiations. In fact in a letter only six days ago to the UK foreign
Secretary, Ambassador Timmerman included a quotation from Winston Churchill
which said “Courage is what it takes to stand up and speak; courage is also
what it takes to sit down and listen” He then went on to write “We will always
be willing to talk on what we believe is right, but we also have the same
disposition to sit down and listen”.
Mr Chairman I have here a letter, from the
Government of the Falkland Islands, which invites the Government of the
Republic of Argentina to sit down and listen to the views of the people of the
Falkland Islands, and enter into a dialogue, designed to find ways to
co-operate in matters of mutual interest, and to preserve the environment of
the South West Atlantic to the benefit of future generations of Falkland
Islanders and Argentines, as we did before the on-set of sanctions by Argentina
against our people. I invite the Argentine delegation to allow me to approach
their table in order to hand over the letter.
MIKE SUMMERS
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