Antarctica
Antarctica
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Official claims to sectors of the ice-covered continent of Antarctica were made by seven States - Argentina, Australia, Chile, France, New Zealand, Norway and the United Kingdom. A sector was also claimed by Admiral Byrd on behalf of the United States, but the United States never officially adopted Byrd's claim, and refused to recognize the claims of the six claimant States
. In 1959 the seven claimant States, together with 5 other States whose scientists had been conducting research in Antarctica (Belgium, Japan, South Africa, the United States and the USSR) entered into the Antarctic Treaty. The Antarctic Treaty “froze” the claims of the seven claimant States, and stated that no new claims to sovereignty would be made. It also stated that Antarctica should be used only for peaceful purposes. The Antarctic Treaty permits States parties to conduct scientific research in Antarctica and its provisions are generally respected by non-party States as customary law.
Treaties
Include:
Convention on the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources, Multilateral, Canberra, May 20, 1980
Protocol to the Antarctic Treaty on Environmental Protection, Multilateral, Madrid, Oct 4, 1991
The Antarctic Treaty
The Antarctic Treaty Last Articles
Note: see more about the the Antarctic Treaty here. Article IX 1. Representatives of the Contracting Parties named in the preamble to the present Treaty shall meet at the City of Canberra within two months after the date of entry into force of the Treaty, and thereafter at suitable intervals and places, for the purpose of exchanging information, consulting together on matters of common interest pertaining to Antarctica, and formulating and considering, and recommending to their Governments, measures in furtherance of the principles and objectives of the Treaty, including measures regarding: a) use of Antarctica for peaceful purposes only; b) facilitation of scientific research in Antarctica; c) facilitation of international scientific cooperation in Antarctica; d) facilitation of the exercise of the rights of inspection provided for in Article VII of the Treaty; e) questions relating to the exercise of jurisdiction in Antarctica; f) preservation and conservation of living resources in Antarctica. 2. Each Contracting Party which has become a party to the present Treaty by accession under Article XIII shall be entitled to appoint representatives to participate in the meetings referred to in paragraph 1 of the present Article, during such time as that Contracting Party demonstrates its interest in Antarctica by conducting substantial scientific research activity there, such as the establishment of a scientific station or the despatch of a scientific expedition. 3. Reports from the observers referred to in Article VII of the present Treaty shall be transmitted to the representatives of the Contracting Parties participating in the meetings referred to in paragraph 1 of the present Article. 4. The measures referred to in paragraph 1 of this Article shall become effective when approved by all the Contracting Parties whose representatives were entitled to participate in the meetings held to consider those measures. 5. Any or all of the rights established in the present Treaty may be exercised as from the date of entry into force of the Treaty whether or not any measures facilitating the exercise of such rights have been proposed, considered or approved as provided in this Article. Article X Each of the Contracting Parties undertakes to exert appropriate efforts consistent with the Charter of the United Nations , to the end that no one engages in any activity in Antarctica contrary to the principles or purposes of the present Treaty. Article XI 1. If any dispute arises between two or more of the Contracting Parties concerning the interpretation or application of the present Treaty, those Contracting Parties shall consult among themselves with a view to having the dispute resolved by negotiation, inquiry, mediation, conciliation, arbitration, judicial settlement or other peaceful means of their own choice. 2. Any dispute of this character not so resolved shall, with the consent, in each case, of all parties to the dispute, be referred to the International Court of Justice for settlement; but failure to reach agreement or reference to the International Court shall not absolve parties to the dispute from the responsibility of continuing to seek to resolve it by any of the various peaceful means referred to in paragraph 1 of this Article. Article XII 1. a) The present Treaty may be modified or amended at any time by unanimous agreement of the Contracting Parties whose representatives are entitled to participate in the meeting provided for under Article IX. Any such modification or amendment shall enter into force when the depositary Government has received notice from all such contracting Parties that they have ratified it. b) Such modification or amendment shall thereafter enter into force as to any other Contracting Policy when notice of ratification by it has been received by the depositary Government. Any such Contracting Party from which no notice of ratification is received within a period of two years from the date of entry into force of the modification or amendment in accordance with the provisions of subparagraph 1 (a) of this Article shall be deemed to have withdrawn from the present Treaty on the date of the expiration of such period. 2. a) If after the expiration of thirty years from the date of entry into force of the present Treaty, any of the Contracting Parties whose representatives are entitled to participate in the meetings provided for under Article IX so requests by a communication addressed to the depositary Government, a Conference of all the Contracting Parties shall be held as soon as practicable to review the operation of the Treaty. b) Any modification or amendment to the present Treaty which is approved at such a Conference by a majority of the Contracting Parties there represented, including a majority of those whose representatives are entitled to participate in the meetings provided for under Article IX, shall be communicated by the depositary Government to all the Contracting Parties immediately after the termination of the Conference and shall enter into force in accordance with the provisions of paragraph 1 of the present Article. c) If any such modification or amendment has not entered into force in accordance with the provisions of subparagraph 1 (a) of this Article within a period of two years after the date of its communication to all the Contracting Parties, any Contracting Party may at any time after the expiration of that period give notice to the depositary Government of its withdrawal from the present Treaty, and such withdrawal shall take effect two years after the receipt of the notice by the depositary Government. Article XIII 1. The present Treaty shall be subject to ratification by the signatory States. It shall be open for accession by any State which is a Member of the United Nations, or by any other State which may be invited to accede to the Treaty with the consent of all the Contracting Parties whose representatives are entitled to participate in the meetings provided for under Article IX of the Treaty. 2. Ratification of or accession to the present Treaty shall be effected by each State in accordance with its constitutional processes. 3. Instruments of ratification and instruments of accession shall be deposited with the Government of the United States of America, hereby designated as the depositary Government. 4. The depositary Government shall inform all signatory and acceding States of the date of each deposit of an instrument of ratification or accession, and the date of entry into force of the Treaty and of any modification or amendment thereto. 5. Upon the deposit of instruments of ratification by all the signatory States, the present Treaty shall enter into force for these States and for States which have deposited instruments of accession. Thereafter the Treaty shall enter into force for any acceding State upon the deposit of its instruments of accession. 6. The present Treaty shall be registered by the depositary Government pursuant to Article 102 of the Charter of the United Nations . Article XIV The present Treaty, done in the English, French, Russian and Spanish languages, each version being equally authentic, shall be deposited in the archives of the Government of the United States of America, which shall transmit duly certified copies thereof to the Governments of the signatory and acceding States. In Witness Whereof, the undersigned Plenipotentiaries, duly authorized, have signed the present Treaty. Done at Washington this first day of December, one thousand nine hundred and fifty-nine.
Conclusion
Notes
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References and Further Reading
About the Author/s and Reviewer/s
Author: international
Mentioned in these Entries
Charter of the United Nations, International Court of Justice, The Antarctic Treaty.
Resources
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Resources
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Lawi offers educational solutions and professional insight, integrating content, tools, and practical technology to promote lifelong learning, personal and professional improvement, and human progress through knowledge. Our collections feature resources and solutions from a wide range of subject areas, from management and finance to law and cybersecurity. This text is only a brief introduction. If you would like us to expand on this content, please let us know in the comments. If you’re finding our platform and newsletters valuable, share it with a colleague or friend, leave a comment and consider subscribing if you haven’t already (thanks!). There are group discounts, gift options, and referral bonuses available.
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Further Reading
Thomas Willing Balch (1910), ‘The Arctic and Antarctic Regions and the Law of Nations’, American Journal of International Law, 4 (2), April, 265–75
A.R. Clute (1927), ‘The Ownership of the North Pole’, Canadian Bar Review, V (1), January, 19–26
John Hanessian (1960), ‘The Antarctic Treaty 1959’, International and Comparative Law Quarterly, 9 (3), July, 436–80
Charles Cheney Hyde (1933–34), ‘Acquisition of Sovereignty over Polar Areas’, Iowa Law Review, 19, 286–94
Philip C. Jessup (1947), ‘Sovereignty in Antarctica’, American Journal of International Law, 41 (1), January, 117–19
W. Lakhtine (1930), ‘Rights over the Arctic’, American Journal of International Law, 24 (4), October, 703–17
David M. Edwards and John A. Heap (1981), ‘Convention on the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources: A Commentary’, Polar Record, 20 (127), 353–62
Francesco Francioni (1993), ‘The Madrid Protocol on the Protection of the Antarctic Environment’, Texas International Law Journal, 28 (193), 47–72
Moritaka Hayashi (1986), ‘The Antarctica Question in the United Nations’, Cornell InternationalLaw Journal, 19 (2), Summer, 275–90
Bernard H. Oxman (1986), ‘Antarctica and the New Law of the Sea’, Cornell International Law Journal, 19 (2), Summer, 211–47
Bruno Simma (1986), ‘The Antarctic Treaty as a Treaty Providing for an “Objective Regime”’, Cornell International Law Journal, 19 (2), Summer, 189–209
A.D. Watts (1990), ‘The Convention on the Regulation of Antarctic Mineral Resource Activities 1988’, International and Comparative Law Quarterly, 39 (1), January, 169–82
Emil A. Zuccaro (1979), ‘Iceberg Appropriation and the Antarctic’s Gordian Knot’, California Western International Law Journal, 9, 405–29
Karen N. Scott (2010), ‘Managing Sovereignty and Jurisdictional Disputes in the Antarctic: The Next Fifty Years’, Yearbook of International Environmental Law, 20 (1), January, 3–40
Kees Bastmeijer and Ricardo Roura (2004), ‘Regulating Antarctic Tourism and the Precautionary Principle’, American Journal of International Law, 98 (4), October, 763–81
Christopher C. Joyner (2008), ‘Challenges to the Antarctic Treaty: Looking Back to See Ahead’, New Zealand Yearbook of International Law, 6, 25–62
Ben Saul and Tim Stephens (2015), ‘Responsive Antarctic Law‐ Making in the Asian Century’, Yearbook of Polar Law, VII, 55–82
Peter J. Beck (2017), ‘Antarctica and the United Nations’, in Klaus Dodds, Alan D. Hemmings and Peder Roberts (eds), Handbook on the Politics of Antarctica, Chapter 17, Cheltenham, UK and Northampton, MA, USA: Edward Elgar Publishing, 255–68
Rüdiger Wolfrum (2017), ‘Common Interest and Common Heritage in Antarctica’, in Klaus Dodds,
Alan D. Hemmings and Peder Roberts (eds), Handbook on the Politics of Antarctica, Chapter 9, Cheltenham, UK and Northampton, MA, USA: Edward Elgar Publishing, 142–51
Hierarchical Display of Antarctica
Environment > Natural environment > Geophysical environment > Polar region
Antarctica
Concept of Antarctica
See the dictionary definition of Antarctica.
Characteristics of Antarctica
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Translation of Antarctica
Spanish: Antártida
French: Antarctique
German: Antarktis
Italian: Antartico
Portuguese: Antártida
Polish: Antarktyka
Thesaurus of Antarctica
Environment > Natural environment > Geophysical environment > Polar region > Antarctica
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Antarctic
Antarctic continent
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