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The Antarctic Treaty and related agreements, collectively called the Antarctic Treaty System or ATS, regulate the international relations with respect to Antarctica, Earth's only uninhabited continent. For the purposes of the treaty system, Antarctica is defined as all land and ice shelves south of the southern 60th parallel. The treaty was signed by 12 countries, including the United States and the Soviet Union, and set aside Antarctica as a scientific preserve and banned military activity on that continent. This was the first arms control agreement established during the Cold War.
The Antarctic Treaty System
- Antarctic Treaty
- Agreed Measures for the Conservation of Antarctic Fauna and Flora (1964) (entered into force in 1982)
- The Convention for the Conservation of Antarctic Seals (1972)
- The Convention for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources (1980)
- The Convention on the Regulation of Antarctic Mineral Resource Activities (1988) (never entered into force)
- The Protocol on Environmental Protection to the Antarctic Treaty (1991)
The main treaty was opened for signature on December 1, 1959, and officially entered into force on June 23, 1961. The original signatories were the 12 countries active in Antarctica during the International Geophysical Year of 1957-58 and willing to accept a US invitation to the conference at which the treaty was negotiated. These countries were Argentina, Australia, Belgium, Chile, France, Japan, New Zealand, Norway, South Africa, the U.S.S.R., the United Kingdom and the United States of America (which opened the Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station for the International Geophysical Year).
The main objective of the ATS 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. The treaty forbids any measures of a military nature, but not the presence of military personnel per se. It also defers the question of territorial claims asserted by some nations and not recognized by others.
The Antarctic Treaty System's yearly Consultative Meetings are the international forum for management of the region. Only 27 of the 44 parties to the agreements have the right to participate in these meetings. These parties are the Consultative Parties and, in addition to the twelve original signatories, include 15 countries that have demonstrated their interest in Antarctica by carrying out substantial scientific activity there. These additional countries are Brazil, Bulgaria, the People's Republic of China, Ecuador, Finland, Germany, India, Italy, the Republic of Korea, Netherlands, Peru, Poland, Spain, Sweden, Uruguay.
The 17 Non-Consultative Parties are Austria, Canada, Colombia, Cuba, Czech Republic, Denmark, Greece, Guatemala, Hungary, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, Papua New Guinea, Romania, Slovakia, Switzerland, Turkey, Ukraine, and Venezuela.
See also: Government of Antarctica, Environmental agreements
Antarctic Treaty of Mobile Suit Gundam
In the fictional Universal Century of the sci-fi mecha anime Mobile Suit Gundam. The Antarctic Treaty states that:
- All uses of Nuclear weapons are prohibited
- All uses of Biological weapons are prohibited
- All uses of Chemical weapons are prohibited
- Dropping space colonies onto Earth is prohibited
- All P.O.W. must be treated humanely
- All neutral territories, including the Luna colonies and Side 6, must have thier neutrality respected
The Antarctic Treaty was signed in responese to the fact that 2.8 billion people, 25% of the human population, were killed during the first few weeks of the One Year War, known as the One Week Battle.
After the Principality of Zeon declared war on the Earth Federation government on January 3rd U.C. 0079, they attack and gassed entire colonies, killing millions of people. Both sides used nuclear warheads to attack one another. The Zeon Forces attempted to even drop an empty Island-2 colony onto the Federal Force's General HQ Jaburo in South America. However, the Earth Federal Force intervened, routing the colony away, having it break out with the largest chuck hitting Sydney, Australia and wiping away 16% of the continent and creating a 300 mile crater.
By the end of it all, billions were dead. On January 31st, U.C. 0079, both sides agreed on the treaty.
This was agreed on for two reasons: The Zeon forces, who had attacked with their new mobile suit units in a 'Blitzkrieg'-style war, had only 1/30th of the Federatoin's resources. Without being able to make a devastating blow, they needed to find ways to further extend their chances for victory, even if it meant they themselves couldn't use weapons of mass destruction. They knew, though, that their mobile suit mecha gave them an incredible advantage over the Federation. The Federation used the treaty as a defensive measure. They neded to find a way to weaken the Zeon forces to prevent the Federation from being obliterated. The Antartic Treaty weakened the Zeon's chances of using NBC weapons or colony drops from killing billions more.
The fate of the Antartic Treaty is questionable. It's unknown whether the treaty extended after the war, or went out of effect with the signing of the peace treaty on January 1st, U.C. 0080. However, it was officially broken in U.C. 0083 when the Zeon remnants used the stolen RX-78GP02A Gundam "Physalis" to fire a powerful nuclear warhead that destroyed much of the Federation's naval fleet.