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Falklands risks fresh spat with Argentina as nation seeks to get its own passports
By IAN DRURY
The Falkland Islands is opening talks with the Government about getting its own passport – risking a fresh spat with Argentina.
Officials representing the territory in London are to speak to the Home Office about the possibility of customising the travel document so that the words ‘Falkland Islands’ appear on the front cover.
The idea, which has popular support among the islands’ 3,000 citizens, is intended to reflect their pride at living in the Falklands while reinforcing their links to the UK.
The move would send a clear message to Argentina that the population has no wish to give up British sovereignty.
The government in Buenos Aires has been ratcheting up tensions over the islands’ future ahead of the 30th anniversary of the Falklands War, when invading Argentine forces were driven out of the archipelago. The two-month conflict cost 255 British and 649 Argentine lives.
The Falkland Islands is eager to reinforce its relationship with Britain by asking for the name to be included on passports that are handed out to its citizens.
Dick Sawle, a member of the islands’ legislative assembly, is pushing for it to be embossed in gold lettering on the maroon passport cover below the words ‘United Kingdom Of Great Britain And Northern Ireland’ and on the information page.
This would bring the Falkland Islands into line with Gibraltar, another British overseas territory, which is allowed to print its name on the front cover of its UK passport. However, these are handed out by the Gibraltan authorities.
Around 30 people from the Falkland Islands apply for passports each year, which are issued in London. Officials are investigating whether a batch of blank documents could be stamped with the words ‘Falkland Islands’ and handed to those who request them.
Mr Sawle said: ‘This is certainly not about any form of independence from Britain. We want to remain British. But it is about being proud of the islands that we live in. It is a very small thing but it has a lot of support in the Falklands.’
Falkland Islands’ residents were granted full UK citizenship under the British Nationality (Falkland Islands) Act 1983, a year after the war.
However, sources suggested the Home Office might consider it too expensive to invest in the specialised passport-making machinery required to give the Falklands its own passport cover.
The move was revealed after the diplomatic row over the Falklands deepened when Argentina complained to the United Nations on Friday that Britain was ‘militarising’ the islands.
The Ministry of Defence is sending state-of-the-art Type 45 destroyer HMS Dauntless to patrol the South Atlantic and Prince William is on the islands as a RAF search-and-rescue helicopter pilot. Both deployments are ‘routine’, insist defence chiefs.
Argentine foreign minister Hector Timerman’s claims to the UN that the UK was increasing its military presence was branded ‘absurd’ by British diplomats.
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2100793/Falklands-nation-seeks-passports.html#ixzz1mKRdOxX1
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