The Argentine claim of sovereignty over the Falkland Islands, South Georgia, South Sandwich Islands, and the surrounding maritime areas was at the center of a diplomatic exchange at the United Nations General Assembly, after British Prime Minister Andy Burnham expressly mentioned the issue during his speech and Argentine Foreign Minister Pablo Quirno exercised the right of reply to respond.
Burnham included the Falkland Islands among the territories over which London asserted it would remain “firm” in the face of any “threat” or “challenge,” defending the British position on the archipelago.
This reference subsequently enabled Argentina's right of reply. From the General Assembly, Quirno recalled that “the Falkland Islands, South Georgia, and South Sandwich Islands, along with the surrounding maritime areas, are an integral part of Argentine national territory” and explained why they are illegally occupied by the United Kingdom.
The historic intervention of Pablo Quirno
In his intervention, the foreign minister reviewed the origin of the dispute and questioned the British presence in the Islands. “The illegal British occupation of the islands dates back to January 1833”, Quirno stated, recalling that British forces occupied the Falklands, “violating the territorial integrity of our country and expelling the authorities and the legitimately established Argentine population.”
The foreign minister noted that those authorities and inhabitants were “replaced by British subjects”, a situation that Argentina has never recognized and against which it has maintained diplomatic protests since then.
