The Antarctic Stations Status in the Context of Antarctica's Frozen Territorial Claims of the States Parties to the Antarctic Treaty and Applicable National Legislation

Abstract

The paper analyzes the Russian doctrine of international law and gives a critical assessment of its state, because the problems of Antarctica traditionally belong to international maritime law. However, the author defines the concept of international Antarctic law as an intersectoral international legal institution with a certain independence within the framework of international territorial law. It is noted that the problems of Antarctica have gone beyond the cognitive interest of the academic community, moving into the context of a clash of geopolitical interests among states, which caused the attempts of five states to establish their sovereignty by means of sectoral division. The Antarctic Treaty of 1959 established a notification procedure for the establishment of Antarctic stations, the modern administrative regime is provided by the activities of institutional mechanisms. With about 100 Antarctic stations and bases opened by States, their international legal status remains uncertain. The problem has acquired particular importance because Russian stations are located in the sectors of territorial claims, which generates competitive processes. By concluding bilateral agreements with States that have put forward territorial claims, it is possible to partially neutralize the competition of jurisdictions in certain areas of cooperation. In the documents adopted by the Antarctic Treaty Consultative Meetings (ATC), attention is paid only to the problems of the station placement and issues of their verification during inspection activities. In order to fill the gap, the author proposed the definition of the Antarctic station as a legal enclave of the State, which is subject to the exclusive jurisdiction of the founding State and establishes immunity from the jurisdiction of other states. The maintenance and development of Russia’s presence in Antarctica is ensured by Russian Antarctic legislation. In order to develop the Russian expeditionary infrastructure (including Antarctic stations and field bases), it is important to develop and adopt a regulation on the status of the Russian Antarctic station, in connection with which measures to improve legislation are proposed.