Argentinian lawyer mocks UK’s sovereignty claim in Falklands oil case

Marcelo Kohen representava a Argentina em audiência em Hamburgo. Fotografia: Gregor Fischer/Getty Images. Ver imagem em tela cheia. Marcelo Kohen representava a Argentina em audiência em Hamburgo.

Prefer the Guardian on GoogleBritain should not be permitted to act as a 17th-century colonial power treating the waters around the Falkland Islands as a Dominium maris Britannici, Argentina has told an international tribunal.

Marcelo Kohen, representando a Argentina em uma audiência em Hamburgo, zombou da Grã-Bretanha por aparentemente acreditar na doutrina histórica de que a coroa britânica tem soberania sobre extensas partes dos oceanos.

Argentina has applied to the international tribunal for the law of the sea (Itlos) for a ruling that would force Britain to suspend the drilling for oil in the North Basin of the Falkland Islands ahead of further arbitration.

O campo petrolífero Sea Lion está a cerca de 130 milhas ao norte das Ilhas Falkland, um território britânico ultramarino sobre o qual a Argentina tem uma reivindicação de soberania de longa data.

Argentina’s president, Javier Milei, reportedly shared among his cabinet a photograph of the Argentinian legal team in Hamburg, describing it as “tremendous”, adding that “we are working on the Falklands issue like no one else in history”.

Ao tribunal, no segundo dia de audiências, Kohen disse que a disputa sobre o arquipélago de 700 ilhas no Atlântico Sul – conhecido na Argentina como Malvinas – não significava que a área fosse um “legal black hole” e que o Reino Unido pudesse fazer o que quisesse com seus recursos naturais.

Ellie Reeves, the attorney general for England and Wales, told the tribunal’s panel of judges on Tuesday that Argentina was seeking to further its sovereignty ambitions by applying for suspension of the drilling.

She claimed that such a move would kill the Sea Lion project, with “disastrous consequences” for the Falkland Islanders and the companies involved. The UK claimed that the tribunal, which adjudicates over maritime matters, does not have jurisdiction to wade into matters of sovereignty.

Kohen, switching from French to English, said the UK had failed to mention in its submissions the “elephant in the room” or the “whale in the bathtub”. The UN regarded the Falkland Islands as a non-self-governing territory, he said, and had called in 1976 for both sides to refrain from taking decisions that would unilaterally change the situation before the sovereignty dispute was settled.

The exploitation of hydrocarbons would put the islands among the “highest ranks of wealth just below the principality of Monaco” while depriving Argentina of its rights to those resources, Kohen told the tribunal.

A equipe jurídica da Argentina alegou que a suspensão da perfuração, que deve começar em março do próximo ano e que poderia dobrar o PIB das ilhas, era urgente, dada a irreparável lesão aos direitos da Argentina.

The UK has claimed there is no urgency as oil extraction would not take place until 2028, before which an Itlos arbitration panel would have come to a conclusion on the future of the oilfield.

In his closing remarks to the panel of 20 judges, Mario Oyarzábal, a legal adviser to Argentina’s ministry of foreign affairs, said they rejected the UK’s attempt to characterise the proceedings as an attempt to litigate the sovereignty dispute.

He said: “The question before this tribunal is a much narrower one: whether, while the underlying dispute remains unresolved, the UK may unilaterally authorise or carry out new drilling for the exploitation of hydrocarbons in the disputed maritime area.”.

Milei described the reclaiming of the Falklands as a “national cause” during his recent speech at the UN general assembly. Argentina invaded the islands in 1982 on the orders of the dictator Gen Leopoldo Galtieri.

O conflito de 74 dias terminou com a rendição das forças argentinas e custou a vida de 649 de seus militares, 255 militares britânicos e três habitantes das Ilhas Malvinas.

The UK will offer further submissions on Wednesday.