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The United Nations and Antarctica 1993: continuing controversy about the UN's role in Antarctica

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  27 October 2009

Peter J. Beck
Peter J. Beck
Affiliation:
Faculty of Human Sciences, Kingston University, Kingston upon Thames KT1 2EE
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Abstract

The eleventh successive annual United Nations discussion on the ‘Question of Antarctica’ took place at the close of 1993. In November the UN First Committee, guided by two reports from the UN Secretary-General, adopted a further resolution, which was adopted in December by the General Assembly as resolution A48/80. As usual, UN members, although displaying evidence of a wider international recognition of the regime's merits, proved critical of the Antarctic Treaty System. By contrast, Antarctic Treaty Parties (ATPs) remained reluctant to allow the UN the type of role in Antarctica advocated by their critics. ATPs, following the course adopted in 1985, still refused either to participate in the UN discussions or to vote. As a result, it proved impossible yet again to secure a consensus about either the ‘Question of Antarctica’ in general or the UN's role in Antarctica in particular. One significant advance in 1993 concerned the end of demands advanced since 1985 for South Africa's exclusion from Antarctic meetings, a change prompted by the dismantlement of the apartheid regime. The ‘Question of Antarctica’ is scheduled to be placed on the UN agenda in 1994.

Type
Articles
Information
Polar Record , Volume 30 , Issue 175 , October 1994 , pp. 257 - 264
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1994

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