What do Falklands/Malvinas islanders want?
The
Falkland/Malvinas islands as a territorial dispute has many issues at stake.
Potentially, there are many remedies that could be applied. The previous post
presented an article (its abstract) which summarizes the situation and the
official position of all three involved parties: Argentina, the
Falkland/Malvinas islands, and the United Kingdom.
Today’s
post centers the attention of one of these parties: people. What do
Falklands/Malvinas islanders want?
In
March 2013, the Falkland/Malvinas Islanders voted in a referendum whether they
wanted (or not) to remain as British Overseas Territory. By a large majority
(99.8%) they made clear their wishes to remain British.
- The number of ballot papers issued was 1,522
- The number of votes cast at the referendum was 1,518
- The total number of rejected ballot papers was 1
- The total number of votes validly cast at the referendum was 1,517
- The percentage of turnout at the referendum was 92%
- The number of “Yes” votes cast was 1,513 (99.8%)
- The number of “No” votes cast was 3 (0.2%)
There
was only one question with an explanatory preamble that read:
“The current political status of the Falkland
Islands is that they are an Overseas Territory of the United Kingdom. The
Islands are internally self-governing, with the United Kingdom being
responsible for matters including defence and foreign affairs. Under the
Falkland Islands Constitution the people of the Falkland Islands have the right
to self-determination, which they can exercise at any time. Given that
Argentina is calling for negotiations over the sovereignty of the Falkland
Islands, this referendum is being undertaken to consult the people regarding
their views on the political status of the Falkland Islands. Should the
majority of votes cast be against the current status, the Falkland Islands
Government will undertake necessary consultation and preparatory work in order
to conduct a further referendum on alternative options.
Do you wish the Falkland Islands to retain their
current political status as an Overseas Territory of the United Kingdom?
YES or NO”
For
more information about this referendum, dates, the question and the relative
leaflet see on this blog:
Lisa
Watson, editor of the 'Penguin News', gave an interview a week after the referendum
in the Falklands. Amongst many issues, she talked about self-determination.
Interview
and information available on this blog:
To
finish today’s post, I am leaving a link to a post I published on this blog
back in 2013 at the time of the referendum. I had the opportunity to have one
of the Falkland’s islanders writing for us. Post available on this blog:
To
reiterate part of what I wrote at the time “[…]
to have so many people arguing about others without even including them is
just... bizarre. In any case in which someone's life is going to be affected by
another's decision, that someone should at least BE HEARD. Why? Simply because
they count, they have moral standing. Their life is the one that is going to be
affected by any decision - and that of their children. […]”
NOTE:
This post is based on Jorge Emilio Núñez, “Territorial Disputes and State Sovereignty:
International Law and Politics,” London and New York: Routledge, Taylor and
Francis Group, 2020 (forthcoming)
Previous
published research monograph about territorial disputes and sovereignty by the
author, Jorge Emilio Núñez, “Sovereignty Conflicts and International Law and
Politics: A Distributive Justice Issue,” London and New York: Routledge, Taylor
and Francis Group, 2017.
NEXT
POST: The Falklands/Malvinas and the different accounts
Wednesday 16th October 2019
Dr Jorge Emilio Núñez
Twitter: @London1701
No comments:
Post a Comment