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Another sterile annual ritual? The United Nations and Antarctica 1987

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  27 October 2009

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

The UN Secretary-General's third Report of September 1987 provided the background for the fifth annual round of the UN's consideration of the ‘Question of Antarctica’. The First Committee's discussions in November 1987 resulted in the adoption by large majorities of two further UN resolutions in favour of a moratorium on the Antarctic minerals regime negotiations, an enhanced UN role in the operations of the Antarctic Treaty System, and the exclusion of South Africa from Consultative Meetings. On the surface, the session might be dismissed as yet another ‘sterile annual UN ritual’, serving to confirm the international community's lack of consensus about the future management of Antarctica. In reality, the episode, suggesting that the UN/Antarctic relationship may be at the crossroads, offered several points of interest, including increased signs of strain within the Antarctic Treaty System consequent upon the South African issue, and a greater appreciation by the critics of the need to work for change within the framework of the existing Antarctic Treaty regime.

Type
Articles
Information
Polar Record , Volume 24 , Issue 150 , July 1988 , pp. 207 - 212
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1988

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