Page:The Future of the Falkland Islands and Its People.pdf/25

 Belize, Kuwait or Guyana.

When the Comoro Islands exercised their self-determination (independence from France) in 1974, the island of Mayotte opted otherwise and since then is a ‘territorial collectivity’ of France still claimed by the Comoros. Belize became independent in 1981 while subject to a Guatemalan sovereignty claim which was subsequently scaled down, remaining confined only to part of southern Belize today. At the time of its independence in 1961 Kuwait was subject to an Iraqi sovereignty claim which stayed in place until as late as 1994. Prior to Guyana’s independence in 1966, Venezuela used to claim two-thirds of its territory (Essequibo region), a claim that has not been formally renounced yet.

Argentina’s claim could possibly end up in one of the following two definitive solutions.

The first solution – which has essentially been implemented ever since the Falklands War – is the gradual diminishing of that claim to a point when it would become (if not already) purely notional and hardly of any practical relevance, like e.g. the Syrian claim to the Turkish province of Iskenderun (Alexandretta) or the Guatemalan claim to Belize or the Venezuelan claim to Essequibo. Traditionally, the ‘Malvinas claim’ has been of symbolic value for the Argentines (part of their national identity almost) to the extent of outweighing any material gains that could possibly result from pursuing a rational negotiated settlement.

The second solution is a negotiated settlement. For Buenos Aires this would mean dropping its claim in exchange for some concessions by the Falklands, say a final delimitation of their respective EEZ waters with reasonable amendments in favour of Argentina. An agreed EEZ delimitation is anyway prompted by the Law of Sea Convention, however unless Argentina puts forward a realistic proposal that could be acceptable to the Falklands, the present de facto delimitation is bound to become final. (This delimitation already involves sizable concessions to Argentina rather than following the midline principle.) Similarly, at present