UN / UNITED KINGDOM

British Ambassador Mark Lyall Grant told reporters today (26 March) that through the recent referendum held in the Falkland (Malvinas) Islands, the Island residents “have sent a clear and unequivocal message to everyone in the international community that their wishes should be fully taken into account and their common voice must be listened to.” UNTV

• Categories: News & Features / News Stories / Unifeed
• Video Length: 00:01:45
• Production Date: 26 March 2013
• Asset Language: Original
• Subject Topical: DECOLONIZATION; TRUST TERRITORIES; APARTHEID
• Geographic Subject: ARGENTINA; UNITED KINGDOM
• MAMS Id: U130326g

Description

STORY: UN / UNITED KINGDOM
TRT: 1.45
SOURCE: UNTV
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH / NATS

DATELINE: 26 MARCH 2013, NEW YORK CITY / FILE

Shotlist

FILE – RECENT, NEW YORK CITY

1. Wide shot, exterior United Nations headquarters

26 MARCH 2013, NEW YORK CITY

2. Wide shot, dais
3. Med shot, journalists
4. SOUNDBITE (English) Mark Lyall Grant, Permanent Representative of the United Kingdom to the United Nations:
“Through this referendum, the people of the Falkland Islands have sent a clear and unequivocal message to everyone in the international community that their wishes should be fully taken into account and their common voice must be listened to. The United Kingdom’s Government position will remain that there will not and cannot be any discussions on the sovereignty of the Falkland Islands unless and until the islanders so wish. Their views are now unequivocally on the record and should be respected by all.”
5. Med shot, journalists
6. SOUNDBITE (English) Mark Lyall Grant, Permanent Representative of the United Kingdom to the United Nations:
“It is not true that we are not willing to discuss with Argentina. The Falkland Islands themselves are willing to discuss issues with Argentina, but our position on the sovereignty claim is very clear that we will not do so, and it would be quite wrong to do so over the heads of the express wishes of the people of the Falkland Islands.”
7. Med shot, journalists
8. SOUNDBITE (English) Mark Lyall Grant, Permanent Representative of the United Kingdom to the United Nations:
“It is completely untrue, as Mr. Timerman claimed, that this is an implanted British colonial population. As I said, the population of the Falkland Islands has origins in fifty different countries around the world. They are now Falkland Islanders, they see themselves as Falkland Islanders, and many of them have been living, dying, in the Falkland Islands for many, many generations.”
9. Med shot, journalist
10. Zoom out, dais

Storyline

British Ambassador Mark Lyall Grant told reporters today (26 March) that through the recent referendum held in the Falkland (Malvinas) Islands, the Island residents “have sent a clear and unequivocal message to everyone in the international community that their wishes should be fully taken into account and their common voice must be listened to.”

Lyall Grant said his Government’s position “will remain that there will not and cannot be any discussions on the sovereignty of the Falkland Islands unless and until the islanders so wish.”

In the two-day referendum, held early this month, residents overwhelmingly voted in favour of maintaining their status as an Overseas Territory of the United Kingdom.

The British Ambassador denied that his Government was not willing to hold discussions with their Argentinean counterparts with Argentina, but stressed Britain’s position that they will not discuss sovereignty issues as “it would be quite wrong to do so over the heads of the express wishes of the people of the Falkland Islands.”

He also denied Argentina’s Minister of Foreign Affairs Héctor Timerman’s claim that the resident of the islands are “an implanted British colonial population” noting that “the population of the Falkland Islands has origins in fifty different countries around the world” and “they see themselves as Falkland Islanders, and many of them have been living, dying, in the Falkland Islands for many, many generations.”

Argentina has alleged that the special nature of the question of the Falkland (Malvinas) Islands derived from the fact that the United Kingdom had occupied the islands by force in 1833 and ousted the Argentine population and authorities there, replacing them with settlers of British origin.