The hearing is the first time substantive matters relating to the islands have been litigated before an international tribunal.
Argentina has opened its case at the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea in Hamburg, arguing that Britain's approval of oil drilling off the Falkland Islands has sharply deepened a sovereignty dispute that led to war in 1982. According to The Guardian, the two-day hearing is the first time substantive matters relating to the islands have been litigated before an international tribunal.
Javier Oyarzábal, chief legal adviser to Argentina's foreign ministry, told the panel that the roughly 3,400 inhabitants of the islands had no right to the resources around the south Atlantic archipelago. He said Argentina respected the islanders' interests and way of life, but argued that they could not decide to which state the islands belong, and that the resources belong to the Argentine people. He accused Britain of refusing talks on sovereignty while pressing ahead with resource exploitation that would entrench the status quo, and claimed oil revenue would finance the military presence sustaining British control.
The Sea Lion project in the North Falkland basin, led by the Israeli firm Navitas with its British partner Rockhopper, is described in the report as having the potential to triple the islands' GDP per capita. Argentina's president, Javier Milei, has condemned the project as unlawful, and his government has applied for arbitration, claiming that Britain's approval breaches a 1976 UN resolution calling on both parties to desist from unilateral action until the sovereignty dispute is settled. Argentina is seeking urgent provisional measures, including a British commitment to stop drilling, which Oyarzábal said would merely preserve the present situation and allow constructive talks.
The tribunal was told that Britain's decision to permit drilling from March next year was the unilateral conduct of a colonial power. Argentina further claimed that the project risked an environmental disaster on its doorstep, arguing that in the event of a blow-out or spill it is Argentina, not a state 12,700km away, that would bear the consequences, and noting that the project lies within its search and rescue region.
Britain's attorney general, Ellie Reeves, attended the hearing and argued that Argentina was seeking to litigate sovereignty through a body established by the 1982 UN Convention on the Law of the Sea to oversee maritime disputes. She said London did not consider the forum appropriate for determining sovereignty issues, and, asked whether Britain would abide by any ruling, said the outcome was unknown but that Britain respected the court and its institutions. On the islands, the project is seen as a means of securing their economic future and building a sovereign wealth fund as fisheries catches decline; Princess Anne arrived in Port Stanley on Monday in a show of solidarity.
What the tribunal will decide, and how quickly it might act on the request for provisional measures, is not yet known. Nor is whether Britain would comply with an order touching on the project, given its position that sovereignty lies outside the tribunal's jurisdiction. The hearing continues.
