A Continent for Limited Participation in an Open Treaty System

THE ANTARCTIC TREATY: A CONTINENT FOR LIMITED PARTICIPATION IN AN OPEN TREATY SYSTEM

At the beginning of 1985 32 governments were signatories of the Antarctic Treaty; thus, 16 act as Consultative Parties, which possess a decision-making role at Consultative Meetings, while a further 16 governments are acceding parties, or non-Consultative Parties, which accept the prin­ ciples of the treaty but perform a more limited contribution towards the operation of the Antarctic Treaty System. The Antarctic Treaty had twelve original signatories, and, after a slow start, it has attracted a further 20 governments, of which the most significant developments have occurred during the past decade. As a result, about 20 per cent of the UN's membership - this stood at 159 states at the beginning of 1985 - participate in the Antarctic Treaty System, although the quality of this proportion is accentuated by the composition of the treaty's signatories, which include the world's most powerful and influential governments, including China, India, the Soviet Union, the USA and most EEC countries. At the same time, the heterogeneous nature of the system's member­ ship is reflected by the inclusion of developed and developing nations, of Eastern and Western bloc governments, as well as of representatives from every continent, albeit with a weak African involvement.