Video: UK must 'negotiate' over Falklands sovereignty Argentina President Cristina Kirchner tells UN President Kirchner made a highly unusual appearance at a U.N. decolonisation committee on Thursday where she argued that the Falklands Islands are an Argentine territory and should not be under British rule. Fernandez's decision to speak to a committee that is typically the realm of mid-ranking diplomats is the latest move in her wide-ranging diplomatic offensive to assert her country's claims to the islands, known in Spanish as Las Malvinas, which are part of Britain's self-governing overseas territories. Look at what is happening in the global economy and that's why I'm saying that to be stuck on the Malvinas and see it only as a territorial or sovereign matter is to shrink the case. The issue of the Malvinas is much more than that, it's a challenge. A challenge to multilateral bodies and organizations, to our governments, to see whether or not we are capable of overcoming prejudices," Mrs Kirchner told the committee.