Why the UK argument in the Falklands is flawed

Great point, OP.

The people of the Islas Malvinas do not have the right to self-determination because they are a transplanted population. A referendum to continue the occupation really amounts to saying the islands belong to the British state because they currently are—an application of the is–ought fallacy.

Argentina won independence from Spain in 1816 and thus acquired the islands as the successor state of the Viceroyalty of the Río de la Plata. When Britain recognized the independence of Argentina in 1825, they recognized the islands as part of Argentinian territory de jure.

Then, in 1831, three US vessels were seized and the crews arrested for violating fishing restrictions. The US then sent a warship to the islands to destroy the settlement. British troops then seized the islands, which are within Argentina's continental shelf and about 8700 miles away from the British mainland, in 1833 and killed the islands' inhabitants and expelled the rest, before beginning a policy of colonising the islands with British settlers.

The Venezuelan foreign ministry rejected the UK's referendum as a violation of UN resolutions and international law; the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States, the Ibero-American Union of Nations, Mercosur, the Rio Group, and the Summit of South America and Arab Countries have all rejected the results of the referendum as well.

It is in complete disregard of public opinion and UN law that the UK persists in its stance to possess the islands at any cost. The real purpose of British control of the islands is to bolster military presence in the region and to secure the last remnants of colonialism and imperialism.

Argentina has no issue killing the natives of South America. Also what you're saying is a lie. Also, why has being on the same continental shelf as something else give you the rights of ownership? You're so biased, Argentina isn't even a continent yet you pretend the existence of 'Argentinia's continental shelf'. That's just utter utter *******s.

According to the UN's Convention on the Law of the Sea "Coastal States have sovereign rights over the continental shelf (the national area of the seabed) for exploring and exploiting it; the shelf can extend at least 200 nautical miles from the shore, and more under specified circumstances."

The Malvinas are 186 nautical miles from the Argentine Isla de los Estados.