The Argentine Ambassador to the International Organizations in Geneva, Federico Villegas, his British counterpart, Simon Manley, and the Vice President of the International Committee of the Red Cross, Giles Carbonier, signed the international instruments that will enable advancing the search and identification of a possible temporary war grave in Caleta Trullo, Malvinas Islands, that might contain remains of unidentified Argentine soldiers.
Once again, the Argentine Government reaffirms its commitment to continue working bilaterally with the ICRC to advance this new task, which is planned to be carried out next August, as part of the on-site work in connection with grave C1.10 within the context of the Second Humanitarian Project Plan.
The execution of these instruments supplements the Second Humanitarian Project Plan that was signed on 18 March 2021, when the Argentine Republic and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland agreed that the International Committee of the Red Cross would carry out the identification of the remains of unidentified Argentine soldiers buried in grave C1.10.
In these instruments, Argentina and the United Kingdom agree to apply the sovereignty formula contained in paragraph 2 of the Joint Declaration of 19 October 1989 to all negotiations related to this phase of the humanitarian initiative, the resulting instruments and their consequences. As in previous cases, this new humanitarian work will rely on the invaluable experience of members of the Forensic Anthropology Team.
In the same humanitarian spirit of the first phase, which began in 2012, these agreements are intended to identify the remains of Argentine soldiers who fought for the restoration of national sovereignty exercise over the Malvinas Islands and lost their lives on the islands, as well as to give answers to their families as to where to pay tribute to their loved ones.
The possibility of finding a temporary grave in that area, where in 1982 there was a field hospital, was informed by the United Kingdom last May.
