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Anonymous ID: 4a1ef8 May 23, 2018, 11:21 p.m. No.1525602   🗄️.is 🔗kun   >>5610 >>5648

>>1525550

 

Antarctic Treaty parties meet in Warsaw

 

Poland hosted the 25th Antarctic Treaty Consultative Meeting (ATCM) in Warsaw from 10 to 20 September. The 2002 meeting addressed a number of improvements to the Treaty's operations.

 

Apart from the annual meeting of the Committee for Environmental Protection, the Parties also addressed establishment of the permanent secretariat to the Treaty, further negotiations on a regime on liability for environmental damage, and management of Antarctic tourism. In addition, the Parties commenced a review of past recommendations of Treaty meetings and considered ways to improve the efficiency of the annual meetings.

 

To improve the way it handles its work, the meeting moved away from the established twin working group arrangements and established four groups to deal with Secretariat, Liability, Legal and Institutional Matters, and Operational Matters.

 

The ATCM was attended by representatives of all 27 Consultative Parties, and most of the 18 acceding states. This year there were 253 delegates including the observer and expert bodies. The meeting dealt with 50 working papers, and 111 information papers. The volume of documents and the size of the delegations indicated the amount of business confronting the Treaty Parties. The working sessions of the meeting were provided with simultaneous interpretation into the four official languages of the Treaty (English, Spanish, French and Russian) and all working papers were translated.

 

The US, as depositary state, circulated a long anticipated update of the Antarctic Treaty handbook, which will greatly assist understanding of the scope of the Treaty system's obligations.

 

The Australian delegation was led by the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, with other delegation members from the Australian Antarctic Division, the Tasmanian Office of Antarctic Affairs and the Antarctic and Southern Ocean Coalition.

 

Next year's meeting will be in Spain, followed by South Africa and Sweden in subsequent years.

 

Andrew Jackson,

Manager, Antarctic Treaty and Government, AAD

 

http://www.antarctica.gov.au/magazine/2001-2005/issue-4-spring-2002/international2/antarctic-treaty-parties-meet-in-warsaw

Anonymous ID: 4a1ef8 May 23, 2018, 11:23 p.m. No.1525610   🗄️.is 🔗kun   >>5648

>>1525602

The Antarctic Treaty

 

The Antarctic Treaty was signed in Washington on 1 December 1959 by the twelve countries whose scientists had been active in and around Antarctica during the International Geophysical Year (IGY) of 1957-58. It entered into force in 1961 and has since been acceded to by many other nations. The total number of Parties to the Treaty is now 53.

 

Some important provisions of the Treaty:

 

Antarctica shall be used for peaceful purposes only (Art. I)

 

Freedom of scientific investigation in Antarctica and cooperation toward that end … shall continue (Art. II).

 

Scientific observations and results from Antarctica shall be exchanged and made freely available (Art. III).

 

Among the signatories of the Treaty were seven countries - Argentina, Australia, Chile, France, New Zealand, Norway and the United Kingdom - with territorial claims , sometimes overlapping. Other countries do not recognize any claims. The US and Russia maintain a “basis of claim”. All positions are explicitly protected in Article IV, which preserves the status quo:

 

No acts or activities taking place while the present Treaty is in force shall constitute a basis for asserting , supporting or denying a claim to territorial sovereignty in Antarctica or create any rights of sovereignty in Antarctica. No new claim, or enlargement of an existing claim to territorial sovereignty in Antarctica shall be asserted while the present Treaty is in force.

 

To promote the objectives and ensure the observance of the provisions of the Treaty, "All areas of Antarctica, including all stations, installations and equipment within those areas … shall be open at all times to inspection " (Art. VII).

 

https://www.ats.aq/e/ats.htm