Falkland Islands (Islas Malvinas)

Falklanders are not a commodity  

Mike Summers
Chair of the Legislative Assembly of the Falkland Islands

"We are not a commodity to be traded between two nations; we are a people, we have a home, and we have the universally-recognised human right to determine our own political future. Any decision about the sovereignty of the Islands absolutely must include Falkland Islanders. Anything else smacks of a return to colonialism. The 2013 Referendum made it very clear that the people of the Falkland Islands value their relationship with the UK, and wish to retain it for the foreseeable future.

The United Nations Charter enshrines the right for all peoples to choose their future and their allegiance, so instead of looking at the Islands through the prism of Argentina vs England, and colonialism vs modernity, it is time to recognise the so-called ‘Falklands Question’ for what it truly is – a question of basic human rights.   A question of allowing the people who have lived and worked in these Islands for nine generations to choose their futures. A question of listening to the people whose voices surely must resonate loudest. If these press reports are accurate, thirty-five years on Argentina has run out of fresh ideas and, rather than focussing on the core issue at the heart of the question, it is going over old ground, just hoping for change. As Benjamin Franklin purportedly said, “The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again, expecting a different outcome.”

(*) The Honourable Mike Summers, OBE
Chair of the Legislative Assembly of the Falkland Islands
9th February 2016