Falklands : Chairman, United Nations Special Committee on Decolonisation Invited to the Falkland Islands
Submitted by Falkland Islands News Network (Juanita Brock) 12.12.2010 (Article Archived on 16.01.2011)
In a recent Press release from Gilbert House The Hon Mr Gavin Short MLA said that “the question of the Falkland Islands is discussed annually at the United Nations at a meeting of the Special Committee on Decolonisation.
Chairman, United Nations Special Committee on Decolonisation Invited to the Falkland Islands
By J. Brock (FINN)
In a recent Press release from Gilbert House The Hon Mr Gavin Short MLA said that “the question of the Falkland Islands is discussed annually at the United Nations at a meeting of the Special Committee on Decolonisation. As elected Chairman of the Special Committee on Decolonisation it is your responsibility to oversee these discussions.”
A letter to H.E. Mr Donatus Keith St. Aimee, Chairman, United Nations Special Committee on Decolonisation was sent from Falklands Assembly Members because the Falkland Islands Government became aware of his recent visit to Argentina, where he spoke about the Falkland Islands and the Decolonisation Committee.
He went on to say that “while the Falkland Islands Government appreciates that the Argentine Government and media have their own agendas, H.E. Mr Donatus Keith St. Aimee was reported as making a number of statements which were either factually incorrect or that marginalised the people of the Falkland Islands along with the founding principles of the United Nations Charter and UN Resolution 1514 (XV) on which the Decolonisation Committee is based.”
As a result of these press reports, the Falkland Islands Government decided it would set out its position and offer H.E. Mr Donatus Keith St. Aimee the chance to balance what you heard in Argentina through a visit to the Falkland Islands.
The Hon Mr Gavin Short explained that the Republic of Argentina wishes to subjugate and exploit the people of the Falkland Islands, against their will, under its own full sovereignty and justifies this by claiming that descendants of immigrants from Europe who settled in the Falkland Islands do not have the same human right to self- determination as descendants of immigrants from Europe who settled on the American continent during the same era.
“Conversely, the United Kingdom wishes to give the people of the Falkland Islands, like any other people, the right to self-determine freely their own political status and pursue freely their economic, social and cultural development. The Falkland Islands wishes to defend its people and its right to exercise self-determination,” said The Hon Mr Short.
The Falkland Islands and the world are very different today to what they were in the 1960s when the original language for the question of the Falkland Islands was drafted. While the Islands and the world have modernised, along with the constitutional relationship between the Falkland Islands and the United Kingdom, the language of the question of the Falkland Islands within the United Nations has remained remarkably similar. It is now out of date.
The Falkland Islands Government understands that as Chairman H.E. Mr Donatus Keith St. Aimee wishes to modernise the work of the Decolonisation Committee and believes that he had visited the territory of Argentina (Tierra del Fuego) which claims to be affected by the Falkland Islands Question and that he should also now visit the territory that is actually affected; namely the Falkland Islands.
On behalf of the Falkland Islands Government, the Hon Mr Gavin Short MLA invited H.E. Mr Donatus Keith St. Aimee formally, in his capacity as Chairman of the United Nations Decolonisation Committee, to visit the Falkland Islands in order that you may appreciate the real situation. Because of the Argentine Government’s attempts to stifle our economic development, flight options are limited. I would be happy to advise you on the best way to travel to the islands. A visit, including travelling time would take at least a week out of your schedule.
The Falkland Islands’ relationship with the United Kingdom has evolved naturally and progressively over the years and it is certainly no longer colonial - it is a relationship that the people of the Falkland Islands have chosen freely. The Falkland Islands Government hopes to show H.E. Mr Donatus Keith St. Aimee this relationship during his visit.
“I have asked that the United Kingdom Permanent Mission to the United Nations send a copy of this letter to the United Nations Secretary General and request its circulation as a document of the General Assembly under agenda item 45,” concluded the Hon Gavin Short.
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