Published on 12 July 2024 in Client Alerts
The article, entitled ‘The Antarctic mining ban could be in danger’, was published on 27 June 2024. It examines the 1959 Antarctic Treaty, which suspended competing territorial claims by the UK, Argentina, Australia, Chile, France, New Zealand and Norway. Due to the southernmost continent’s rich mineral content, countries such as the US, Russia and China have argued that these seven countries should not be the only ones to have territorial rights in the Antarctic.
With new exploration technology being used by Russia and China in the continent, much attention has turned to how the Antarctic Treaty system is neither universally agreed upon nor comprehensive in what it regulates. Countries have until 2048 to resolve this matter. Professor Volterra provides insights on what models States could rely on to agree upon a multinational treaty that will benefit a number of parties.
For more information, please contact info@volterrafietta.com
In the brief 60 years of space flight, humanity has sent over 60,000 space objects and 1 million pieces of smaller debris into orbit around the planet. This has created the risk of a legal and physical log-jam in space. The congestion and space-junk problems are projected to become even more acute as the space race broadens its participants.
Learn moreDuring the 29th annual session of the International Seabed Authority (“ISA”), Malta, Tuvalu, Honduras, Guatemala and Austria declared their support for a precautionary pause on deep-sea mining. To date, now over thirty States have called for a halt in the exploitation of the deep seabed minerals. These calls come as the ISA struggles to adopt a final set of regulations on mining exploitation.
Learn moreOn 30 May 2024, the European Council adopted decisions enabling the European Union (“EU”) to denounce (the proper international law term for ‘withdraw from’) the Energy Charter Treaty (“ECT”).
Learn moreThe COVID-19 pandemic exposed significant gaps in the global health system, leading to immense human and economic losses. In response, the World Health Organization (“WHO”) and its member States decided to draft a comprehensive international treaty—the Pandemic Prevention, Preparedness, and Response Accord.
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