The Government closed its claim before the Maritime Tribunal to halt oil exploitation in the Malvinas Islands

On the second day of hearings before the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea, based in Hamburg, the Argentine delegation once again criticized the British position today and demanded the suspension of hydrocarbon exploitation in the northern basin of the Malvinas Islands, through the Anglo-Israeli Sea Lion project. “The fact that the parties dispute sovereignty does not transform the maritime areas around the Malvinas into a kind of British sea where the United Kingdom would be free to exploit resources as it pleases,” stated specialist Marcelo Kohen, one of the three members of the Argentine delegation before the tribunal, led from the Casa Rosada by Legal and Technical Secretary María Ibarzabal, who presented their arguments before the tribunal today. Kohen was even harsher in another part of his speech, stating that “we are in an era where we must end the last vestige of colonialism,” in explicit reference to British dominion over the Malvinas, which Argentina claims as its own. Marcelo Kohen presented before the Tribunal for the Sea regarding the Argentine claim against oil exploitation in the Malvinas Islands@MalvinasData “The General Assembly (of the UN) urged the parties to refrain from adopting unilateral measures during the decolonization process of the islands, and it did so when the United Kingdom began considering hydrocarbon exploitation,” Kohen insisted. Regarding the sovereignty dispute over the Malvinas, he recalled that “the United Kingdom rejects the proposals for negotiations and good offices of the Secretary-General (of the UN) and offers no alternative means to resolve the dispute.” The International Legal Counselor of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Mario Oyarzábal, had the mission to close the Argentine presentation, just as on the first day. Professor Nico Schrijver, former president of the Institute of International Law and of the International Law Association, also spoke. All in English, the Argentine representatives insisted on the need for the suspension of oil exploitation to avoid “irreversible” damage to the natural resources in the disputed islands. Schrijver even showed a chart with the exploitation deadlines that Sea Lion proposes to carry out, with drilling development scheduled to begin next March and extraction itself at the beginning of 2028. Javier Milei’s government thus concluded its presentation of arguments before the tribunal, which is analyzing the unprecedented lawsuit filed against Great Britain for the illegal exploitation of hydrocarbon resources in waters near the Malvinas Islands, managed by the Sea Lion project, involving the companies Rockhopper (British) and Navitas (Israeli). Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Maite Fernández García, Alejandro Luppino, Juan Pablo Paniego, Juan Manuel Galindo Roldán, Laura Márquez, Pablo Alonso, Daniela Varela, Mariano Pagliettini, and Facundo Rodríguez. Hamburg, November 10, 2026. The Argentine Republic completed its first presentation before the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea (ITLOS) this morning, within the framework of the first day of hearings regarding the request for provisional measures against the United Kingdom to prevent the advance of illegitimate hydrocarbon exploitation in the maritime area of the Malvinas Islands. After listening to the British delegation's position for the second time, the 21-member tribunal (22 in this case, as a British ad hoc representative joined) led by the Cameroonian Maurice Kamga will take a few days to define its jurisdiction in the case, in a provisional verdict. Yesterday, the representatives of Great Britain, on the contrary, argued that the Sea Lion project complies with all the requirements of the High Seas Treaty, signed in 1982. They defended resource exploitation as part of the “right to self-determination” of the Malvinas population. “The provisional measures requested by Argentina would prevent the inhabitants of the Malvinas Islands from developing their natural resources, something they have the right to under their fundamental right to self-determination,” said the Attorney General for England and Wales, Elie Reeves, who was responsible for defending the British position. The strategy developed by the Casa Rosada, amidst the wave of Malvinas fervor, was aimed at getting the tribunal to declare itself competent to intervene and provisionally decree the suspension of exploratory activities that the oil companies are already carrying out in the surrounding waters of the Malvinas, although different experts quietly warn about the risks this move could bring to the claim of sovereignty. “If the tribunal accepts that this controversy is part of its jurisdiction, it is likely that the suspension of exploitation activities will be issued before the end of the year,” evaluates an Argentine expert with a long career in international law. President Javier Milei had celebrated the Argentine presentation internally yesterday. The leader sent a message to the Cabinet chat with a photo of the Argentine delegation in Hamburg. “Beyond the fair euphoria for the Pope, this photo is monumental. We are in this tribunal to stop oil exploitation in the Malvinas. We are working on the Malvinas issues like no one in history,” the President wrote, according to LA NACION from official sources. If it happens, it will not, however, be an immediate success. If the case advances, the final solution will be taken by the Arbitral Tribunal, according to the provisions of Annex VII of the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), a five-member body not yet constituted, which can take years to issue the final ruling. By Jaime Rosemberg