Antarctic Treaty

The Antarctic Treaty is an international agreement, the first arms control agreement of the Cold War, that designates Antarctica as a scientific preserve, establishes freedom of scientific investigation there, and bans military activity on the continent, defined for the treaty's purposes as all land and ice shelves south of 60 degrees south latitude. It was opened for signature on 1 December 1959 and entered into force on 23 June 1961, with its twelve original signatories drawn from the countries active in Antarctica during the 1957-58 International Geophysical Year, among them Argentina, Australia, France, Japan, the Soviet Union, the United Kingdom and the United States. As of 2024 the treaty and its related agreements, collectively the Antarctic Treaty System, have 58 parties.