equipment. The Treaty also provides for regular consultative 

 meetings which are used, among other purposes, to deal with 

 new issues. 



There is growing international interest in Antarctica. 

 Since the Treaty entered into force, twenty-two additional 

 nations have acceded to it, bringing the total to thirty-four 

 parties^ . As noted earlier, eighteen of these are now 

 Consultative Parties with decision-making rights under the 

 Antarctic Treaty. The remaining non-Consultative Parties can 

 attend the regular consultative meetings as observers. 



The growing international interest in Antarctica 

 reflects, in part, recognition of the value of scientific 

 research which remains the primary human activity in 

 Antarctica. It also reflects speculation about potential 

 resources, particularly non-renewable mineral and fossil fuel 

 resources, in Antarctica. This speculation appears to have 

 been a major factor stimulating an initiative by Malaysia in 

 1983 to have the United Nations consider the existing 

 international arrangements concerning Antarctica. Acting on 

 a Malaysian proposal, the United Nations General Assembly 

 inscribed an item on Antarctica on the agenda of its 

 Thirty-eighth Session in 1983. As a result, the General 

 Assembly adopted a resolution that called upon the Secretary 

 General to "prepare a comprehensive, factual and objective 

 study of all aspects of Antarctica." 



The Secretary General's study was completed in November 

 1984. Following further consideration of the matter, the 

 General Assembly adopted a resolution that: (1) affirmed the 

 conviction that, "in the interest of all mankind, Antarctica 

 should continue forever to be used exclusively for peaceful 

 purposes and that it should not become the scene or object of 

 international discord"; and (2) agreed to inscribe an item 

 entitled "Question of Antarctica" on the provisional agenda 

 for the Fortieth Session of the General Assembly in 1985. 



Although the question of Antarctica had previously been 

 treated on a consensus basis in the United Nations, this 

 pattern was broken during the Fortieth Session of the General 

 Assembly when Malaysia and its supporters chose to push 

 through three resolutions by vote. The first resolution 

 called upon the Secretary General to "update and expand the 

 study on the question of Antarctica by addressing questions 

 concerning the availability of information from the Antarctic 

 Treaty Consultative Parties to the United Nations on their 



2 Since 1 January 1987, two more countries, Greece and 

 North Korea, have acceded to the Treaty, bringing the total 

 to thirty-six. 



30 



