Upon closer inspection…

Abstract

Article VII of the Antarctic Treaty opens “all areas of Antarctica, including all stations, installation and equipment… at all times” to inspection by observers of all Contracting Parties. Article VII guarantees this right of inspection as a means to “promote the objectives and ensure the observance of the provisions” of the Treaty. Freedom of inspection strengthens the Treaty's core principles of peace and international cooperation and more importantly, the provisions of Article IV temporarily reconcile the sovereignty issue between claimant and non-claimant states. To date, however, Article VII has been greatly underutilized as a means to better protect the Antarctic environment. Green-peace, through its experience in the Antarctic, has come to realize that a formal international inspectorate and regulatory authority is needed for compliance monitoring, comprehensive and long-term environmental baseline monitoring, information management and exchange, and the effective management of the natural resources and values of the entire Antarctic.