Pablo Quirno explained that on October 15, the Fourth Committee of the UN General Assembly examined 23 projects on decolonization. He indicated that Argentina voted in favor of 21 and abstained on two, while the United States voted against all. Quirno noted that one of the abstentions referred to the application of the Declaration on the Granting of Independence to Colonial Countries and Peoples by specialized agencies and institutions linked to the UN, and that Argentina had maintained that position since 2006. Regarding the other abstention, on the project "Addressing contemporary forms of colonialism," he said that the Foreign Ministry had identified provisions that, in its view, exceeded the scope of resolution 1514 (XV) and other relevant resolutions. He also stated that the text included concepts addressed in other areas of the UN whose relationship to the decolonization mandate was not sufficiently clear. Quirno asserted that the abstention aimed to preserve the specificity and historical scope of the decolonization process and did not imply a change in Argentina's commitment. He added that the voting reflected differences among states, even in Latin America and the Caribbean. The author called for the issue of the Malvinas Islands not to be politicized and argued that the defense of Argentine sovereignty rights over the Malvinas, South Georgia, and South Sandwich Islands, and the surrounding maritime areas, was a state policy. #Descolonización #IslasMalvinas #NacionesUnidas (translated)
