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Antarctic Treaty
The Antarctic Treaty System: an introduction
- Antarctic Treaty Secretariat website
- SCAR's Standing Committee on the Antarctic Treaty System
- Antarctic Treaty Secretariat Newsletters
- SCAR Information and Working Papers for the XXVIII ATCM, Stockholm, Sweden
- SCAR Information Papers to XXVII ATCM Cape Town, South Africa
- Antarctic Treaty Introduction
- The Antarctic Treaty
- Signatories to the Antarctic Treaty
- Antarctic Treaty Consultative Meetings
- The Committee for Environmental Protection
The Antarctic Treaty System is the whole complex of arrangements made for the purpose of regulating relations among states in the Antarctic. At its heart is the Antarctic Treaty itself. The original Parties to the Treaty were the 12 nations active in the Antarctic during the International Geophysical Year of 1957-58. The Treaty was signed in Washington on 1 December 1959 and entered into force on 23 June 1961. The Consultative Parties comprise the original Parties and a further fourteen States that have become Consultative Parties by acceding to the Treaty and demonstrating their interest in Antarctica by carrying out substantial scientific activity there.
The primary purpose of the Antarctic Treaty is to ensure "in the interests of all mankind that Antarctica shall continue forever to be used exclusively for peaceful purposes and shall not become the scene or object of international discord." To this end it prohibits military activity, except in support of science; prohibits nuclear explosions and the disposal of nuclear waste; promotes scientific research and the exchange of data; and holds all territorial claims in abeyance. The Treaty applies to the area south of 60° South Latitude, including all ice shelves and islands.
The Treaty is augmented by Recommendations adopted at Consultative Meetings, by the Protocol on Environmental Protection to the Antarctic Treaty (Madrid, 1991), and by two separate conventions dealing with the Conservation of Antarctic Seals (London 1972), and the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources (Canberra 1980). The Convention on the Regulation of Antarctic Mineral Resource Activities (Wellington 1988), negotiated between 1982 and 1988, will not enter into force.
The Antarctic Treaty Consultative Meeting (ATCM) is now held annually and XXIV ATCM is scheduled to be held in 2001. The Scientific Committee on Antarctic Research (SCAR) is an observer at ATCMs and provides independent scientific advice to the ATCM as requested in a variety of fields, particularly on environmental and conservation matters.
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