Argentina will open international arbitration against the United Kingdom under the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea over the Sea Lion oil project north of the Malvinas (Falkland Islands), and gave London two weeks to halt work before it asks the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea for emergency measures, President Milei announced on Monday.
"I instructed the Foreign Ministry and our legal teams to begin international arbitration against the United Kingdom over the illegal plundering of our resources through the Sea Lion Project in the North Malvinas Basin," Milei wrote on X. "If the United Kingdom does not stop the illegitimate exploitation within two weeks, we will go to the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea. The Malvinas are Argentine, and they are defended with actions, not words."
The Foreign Ministry said it had formally notified Britain under Annex VII of the convention, which provides for disputes to be settled by a five-member arbitral tribunal, and cited UN General Assembly Resolutions 2065 and 31/49, which recognize the sovereignty dispute and call on both countries to negotiate. Foreign Minister Pablo Quirno called the move "a historic and unprecedented step," according to AP. The Hamburg-based tribunal can issue binding provisional orders but has no mechanism to enforce them.
Sea Lion, developed by Israel's Navitas Petroleum and Britain's Rockhopper Exploration, is expected to produce its first oil in 2028. The arbitration adds an international front to a campaign that already includes a federal court order to halt the project, a sanctions list of 60 companies and individuals and Milei's sovereignty bill, which would impose prison terms for unauthorized resource extraction. Britain, which has already called Argentina's legal action against the companies "unacceptable", maintains that the islanders have the right to self-determination and to develop their natural resources.
Flights to Punta Arenas
The same statement said the government had detected Thales UK Limited operating flights between the islands and Punta Arenas, in southern Chile, with a UK-registered aircraft and without Argentine authorization. It ordered sanctions proceedings and criminal complaints against the company, according to the Buenos Aires Herald and El Cronista.
Chile's Position
The announcement came a day after Chile's defense minister, Fernando Barros, said his government supports Argentina's claim while defending Chilean commerce with the islands. Britain "has been there for 200 years, it exercises sovereignty," Barros told Radio Polar in Magallanes, adding that the dispute should be settled "in accordance with international law, respecting the will and interest of the people involved and by peaceful means," according to Infobae and La Nación.
Barros said any activity that respects local rules and international law "cannot have any limitation," and described Mercosur commitments restricting links with the islands as "political in nature and not legally binding." La Nación noted that the remarks sit uneasily with the joint declaration Milei and Chilean President José Antonio Kast signed in Santiago on September 3, in which Chile committed to preventing logistical support for illegal fishing and hydrocarbon activity in disputed waters.
The two-week deadline runs to mid-October. Three Chamber of Deputies committees were scheduled to open joint debate on the sovereignty bill on Wednesday, September 30, with the government seeking a committee report by October 6 and a floor vote on October 7, according to Noticias Argentinas, and Britain has not yet responded formally to the notification.