FULL AGREEMENT ON ANTARCTIC

Press, Volume XCVIII, Issue 29067, 2 December 1959, Page 17

FULL AGREEMENT ON ANTARCTIC

Twelve Powers Sign Historic Treaty (N.Z. Press Association—Covynara> (Rec. 11 p.m.) WASHINGTON, December 1. Australia, New Zealand and the Soviet Union were among 12 nations which today signed a historic treaty to preserve Antarctica for peaceful scientific research for all time.

The 14-article treaty, which bans all military weapons from the five-million-square-mile continent, is.a product of seven weeks of intense negotiation in Washington among the 12 signatory nations. The treaty, which sets up the world’s first international inspection system to ensure that Antartica will be used only for peaceful purposes, was seen by many diplomats as a hopeful augury for EastWest disarmament negotiations, where agreement also would have to be reached on an inspection and control system.

The countries signing the treaty are Argentina, Australia,' Belgium, Britain, Chile, France, Japan, New Zealand, Norway, South Africa, the Soviet Union, and the United States. It might be a year or longer before all 12 Governments ratify the agreement and make it effective. However, a “final act” signed by the delegates to the conference, in conjunction with the treaty itself, provided that representatives of the 12 countries should meet in Washington within two months of the signing and when necessary thereafter to deal with any interim arrangements. 1 Once it comes into force, it is provided that representatives of the treaty Powers will meet within two months in Canberra to consult on Antarctic questions of common interest. The articles in the treaty cover all questions from scientific cooperation and the legal situation

on the continent to the settlement of disputes and the accession of other members of the United Nations. The preamble to the treaty says that the signatories recognise that “it is in the interest of all mankind that Antarctica shall continue for ever to be used exclusively for peaceful purposes and shall not become the scene or object of international discord.” The Soviet Union won out on its stand that only full United Nations members could join the treaty. It provides that all United Nations member countries might join the 12 nations in the treaty guaranteeing that the Antarctic be used for peaceful purposes only. Informants said Soviet representatives were reluctant to permit the specialised agencies, which include some non-United Nations members, to sign the treaty.

The Soviet Union also objected last week to a proposed clause permitting nuclear explosions in the Antarctic for peaceful and scientific purposes. The Soviet Union held out for a total ban on such explosions. With Japan taking the lead for a compromise, it was agreed that the treaty would provide that nuclear explosions in the Antarctic would be governed by a future agreement, and that pending the establishment of such rules at a future meeting, nuclear explosions might not take place. The pact was concluded at a closed meeting yesterday, when the wording of a treaty article banning nuclear explosions from the continent, pending other international arrangements, was settled.

Observers said that the final wording of the article appeared to represent a victory for the Soviet Union on this question.