A United Nations commission has ruled that the disputed Falkland Islands lie in Argentinian waters, handing a historic victory to the Spanish-speaking South American country over the other claimant, Britain.

The UN commission has also expanded the maritime limits of Argentina in the South Atlantic Ocean by 35 per cent, amounting to 1.7 million square km or 0.66 million square miles). This will allow Argentina to reassert its claims to sovereignty over the islands known to them as the Islas Malvinas.

The new demarcation of the maritime limits has been greeted in Buenos Aires as a reaffirmation of its sovereignty rights over the resources of the continental shelf as far as 350 miles offshore. However, according to the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, the territorial waters of the Falkland Islands extend to 200 nautical miles (370 km) which overlaps with the maritime boundary of Argentina even before the latest UN commission ruling.

The group of islands are about 300 miles (483 kilometres) east of South America’s southern Patagonian coast. There are 778 islands with a total area of 4,700 square miles, slightly more than Jamaica’s land area and a population of approximately 3,000 people.

While considerable Argentine national pride is invested in the sovereignty over the Malvinas Islands, there is also the awareness that there may be oil and fish stocks in the sea around barren islands. Oil exploration has been going on for some time.

The dispute between Britain and Argentina has its origins in the nineteenth century. At various times the islands have been inhabited by the French, British, Spanish and Argentines. In 1833, Britain claimed the islands and asserted their presence by establishing a military garrison. Argentina has never accepted this and has contested the British claim. Today, much of the population is of English descent, the English language is spoken, and under the British Nationality (Falkland Islands) Act 1983, Falkland Islanders are British citizens.

Since the 1960s, Britain and Argentina have been engaged in periodic negotiations. In April 1982 the Argentine army occupied the islands and this provoked the ire of Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher and her British air, naval and military forces which recaptured the islands. It was not until 1990 that Argentina and the UK re-established diplomatic relations, but the acrimonious dispute has persisted.

The dispute remains unresolved with the British maintaining that they have administered the Falklands since 1833, while the Argentinians stake a prior claim that they attained the Malvinas from Spain when it achieved independence in 1816. As far as Argentina is concerned, the British have illegally occupied the islands since 1833 and that length of occupation does not legitimise British claims.

It will be interesting to see what the British response is to the latest ruling of the UN commission. Perhaps there should be a referendum to allow the people of the Falklands or Malvinas to decide whether they wish to be British or Argentine, or independent under a UN protectorate.