A GROUP of young Falkland Islanders has travelled to the United Nations in order to pass a firm message to Argentine president Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner that they want to remain British subjects and continue their current way of life.

Left: One of the group of young Islanders Ailie Biggs whose family came to the Falklands in 1842

The small delegation of Islanders, most of whom were not yet born when the Falklands war took place in 1982, will attend a special conference session at the Committee on Decolonisation.

They told Associated Press Argentina's dismissive attitude to Falkland Islanders is an insult to the generations of families who have forged a life there.

The Argentine president is planning to attend the meeting of the UN's Committee of 24 on June 14, which is Liberation Day and the 30th anniversary of the end of the Falklands war.

James Marsh, 31, a delegate who works for the Falklands government, said: "We are sixth and seventh generation Falkland Islanders, our families forged a life in the Falklands when times were much less easy than they are now. "It is an insult to those people that their endeavours, the 150 years we have been in the Falklands, are not recognised by the Argentine politicians."

He added: "I think the most important thing we can tell them is we are a vibrant, young, self-sufficient community who just want to be left in peace to forge our own future."

The Island delegation said they often get drowned out by the arguments over sovereignty taking place between the UK and Argentina.

Ailie Biggs, 29, manager of Kelper Stores in Stanley said: "It is not often we are asked, a lot of the time it is discussions between Argentina and the UK. This is one opportunity, we really feel, where as Falkland Islanders we can say what we feel and we are the important ones in the equation - we are the ones who live there."