Does the Population of the Falkland Islands (Malvinas) Really Have the Right to Self-Determination?
14 Pages Posted: 14 Apr 2015
Date Written: April 9, 2015
Abstract
The advent of the right of peoples to self-determination in international law is by no means recent and, nevertheless, in political and legal discourse it is commonplace to highlight its great importance. Nowadays, like in the past, debates about its relevance or applicability to certain situations may reach high levels of emotional intensity. One of these situations is the dispute between the UK and Argentina concerning the Falkland Islands (Malvinas), where claims of self-determination and territorial integrity are opposed to each other. In this article, it is examined whether the right of self-determination is really vested in the population of the Islands (as claimed by the UK and the islanders themselves) and whether the British claim for self-determination can be limited by the Argentinean claim for territorial integrity. The study is made on the basis of the work of the UN General Assembly and the International Court of Justice.
Keywords: Falklands, Malvinas, self-determination, territorial integrity
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