Treaty recognising the sovereignty of Norway over the Archipelago of Spitsbergen, including Bear Island Traité reconnaissant la souveraineté de la Norvège sur l'archipel du Spitsberg, y compris l'île aux Ours | |
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Signed | 9 February 1920 |
Location | Paris, France |
Effective | 14 August 1925 |
Condition | Ratification by all the signatory powers |
Parties | 48 [1] [2] [3] – see list |
Depositary | Government of the French Republic |
Languages | French and English |
Full text | |
Spitsbergen Treaty at Wikisource |
The Svalbard Treaty (originally the Spitsbergen Treaty) recognises the sovereignty of Norway over the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard, at the time called Spitsbergen. The exercise of sovereignty is, however, subject to certain stipulations, and not all Norwegian law applies. The treaty restricts military uses of the archipelago, but it is not demilitarized. [4] The signatories were given equal rights to engage in commercial activities (mainly coal mining) on the islands. [5] As of 2024 [update] , Norway and Russia make use of this right.
Uniquely, the archipelago is an entirely visa-free zone under the terms of the Svalbard Treaty. [6]
The treaty was signed on 9 February 1920 and submitted for registration in the League of Nations Treaty Series on 21 October 1920. [7] There were 14 original High Contracting Parties: Denmark, France, Italy, Japan, the Netherlands, [8] Norway, Sweden, the United Kingdom (including Australia, Canada, New Zealand, South Africa, and India), and the United States. [9] Of the original signatories, Japan was the last to ratify the treaty on 2 April 1925, and the treaty came into force on 14 August 1925. [10]
Many additional nations acceded to the treaty after it was ratified by the original signatories, including several before it came into force. As of 2024 [update] , there are 48 parties to the treaty. [1] [2] [3]
The original treaty is titled the Treaty recognising the sovereignty of Norway over the Archipelago of Spitsbergen. It refers to the entire archipelago as Spitsbergen, which had been the only name in common usage since 1596 (with minor variations in spelling). In 1925, five years after the conclusion of the treaty, the Norwegian authorities proceeded to officially rename the islands "Svalbard". This new name was a modern adaptation of the ancient toponym Svalbarði, attested in the Norse sagas as early as 1194. The exonym Spitsbergen subsequently came to be applied to the main island in the archipelago. [11] [12] Accordingly, in modern historiography the Treaty of Spitsbergen is commonly referred to anachronistically as the Svalbard Treaty to reflect the name change.[ citation needed ]
The archipelago was discovered by the Dutch explorer Willem Barentsz in 1596. [13] It was named Spitsbergen, meaning 'sharp-peaked mountains' (literally 'spits-berg'). It was uninhabited. [14] The islands were renamed in the 1920s by Norway as Svalbard. [15]
Spitsbergen/Svalbard began as a territory free of a nation, with people from different countries participating in industries including fishing, whaling, mining, research and later, tourism. Not belonging to any nation left Svalbard largely free of regulations or laws, though there were conflicts over the area due to whaling rights and sovereignty disputes between England, the Netherlands and Denmark–Norway in the first half of the 17th century. [16] By the 20th century mineral deposits were found on the main island and continual conflicts between miners and owners created the need for a government. [17]
The Spitsbergen Treaty was signed in Paris on 9 February 1920, during the Versailles negotiations after World War I. In this treaty, international diplomacy recognized Norwegian sovereignty (the Norwegian administration went in effect by 1925) and other principles relating to Svalbard. This includes: [9]
There has been a long-running dispute, primarily between Norway and Russia (and before it, the Soviet Union) over fishing rights in the region. [20] [21] In 1977, Norway established a regulated fishery in a 200 nautical miles (370 km) zone around Svalbard (though it did not close the zone to foreign access). [20] Norway argues that the treaty's provisions of equal economic access apply only to the islands and their territorial waters (four nautical miles at the time) but not to the wider exclusive economic zone. In addition, it argues that the continental shelf is a part of mainland Norway's continental shelf and should be governed by the 1958 Continental Shelf Convention. [21] The Soviet Union/Russia disputed and continues to dispute this position and consider the Spitsbergen Treaty to apply to the entire zone. Talks were held in 1978 in Moscow but did not resolve the issue. [20] Finland and Canada support Norway's position, while most of the other treaty signatories have expressed no official position. [20] The relevant parts of the treaty are as follows:
Ships and nationals of all the High Contracting Parties shall enjoy equally the rights of fishing and hunting in the territories specified in Article 1 and in their territorial waters. (from Article 2)
They shall be admitted under the same conditions of equality to the exercise and practice of all maritime, industrial, mining or commercial enterprises both on land and in the territorial waters, and no monopoly shall be established on any account or for any enterprise whatever. (from Article 3)
"Mainly the dispute is about whether the Svalbard Treaty also is in effect outside the 12 nautical mile territorial sea," according to Norway's largest newspaper, Aftenposten . If the treaty comes into effect outside the zone, then Norway will not be able to claim the full 78% of profits of oil- and gas harvesting, said Aftenposten in 2011. [22]
A list of parties is shown below; the dates below reflect when a nation deposited its instrument of ratification or accession. [1] [2] [3] Some parties are successor states to the countries that joined the treaty, as noted below.
Country | Date of ratification | Notes |
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Afghanistan | 23 November 1929 | |
Albania | 29 April 1930 | |
Argentina | 6 May 1927 | |
Australia | 29 December 1923 | Extension by the United Kingdom. |
Austria | 12 March 1930 | |
Belgium | 27 May 1925 | |
Bulgaria | 20 October 1925 | |
Canada | 29 December 1923 | Extension by the United Kingdom. |
Chile | 17 December 1928 | |
China | 1 July 1925 | Acceded as the Republic of China. Both the People's Republic of China and the Republic of China claim to be the successor or continuing state, but as of 2024 all other parties to the treaty recognize only the People's Republic of China. |
Czech Republic | 21 June 2006 | Czechoslovakia acceded to the treaty on 9 July 1930. On 21 June 2006, the Czech Republic stated that it considered itself bound to the treaty since its independence on 1 January 1993, as a successor state. |
Denmark | 24 January 1924 | Extension to the entire Danish Realm. |
Dominican Republic | 3 February 1927 | |
Egypt | 13 September 1925 | |
Estonia | 7 April 1930 | |
Finland | 12 August 1925 | |
France | 6 September 1924 | |
Germany | 16 November 1925 | Acceded as the Weimar Republic. On 21 October 1974, East Germany stated that it also reapplied the treaty since 7 August 1974. East Germany reunited with West Germany on 3 October 1990. |
Greece | 21 October 1925 | |
Hungary | 29 October 1927 | |
Iceland | 31 May 1994 | |
India | 29 December 1923 | Extension by the United Kingdom. |
Ireland | 29 December 1923 | The Irish Free State left the United Kingdom after the latter signed the treaty but before it was ratified. On 15 April 1976, Ireland stated that it also applied the treaty since its ratification by the United Kingdom. |
Italy | 6 August 1924 | |
Japan | 2 April 1925 | |
Latvia | 13 June 2016 | |
Lithuania | 22 January 2013 | |
Monaco | 22 June 1925 | |
Netherlands | 3 September 1920 | Extension to the entire Kingdom of the Netherlands. |
New Zealand | 29 December 1923 | Extension by the United Kingdom. |
North Korea | 16 March 2016 | |
Norway | 8 October 1924 | |
Poland | 2 September 1931 | |
Portugal | 24 October 1927 | |
Romania | 10 July 1925 | |
Russia | 7 May 1935 | Acceded as the Soviet Union. On 27 January 1992, Russia declared that it continued to apply the treaties concluded by the Soviet Union. |
Saudi Arabia | 2 September 1925 | Acceded as the Kingdom of Hejaz. |
Serbia | 5 September 2022 | Yugoslavia acceded to the treaty on 6 July 1925. On 5 September 2022, Serbia declared to continue the application of the treaty. |
Slovakia | 21 February 2017 | Czechoslovakia acceded to the treaty on 9 July 1930. On 21 February 2017, Slovakia stated that it considered itself bound to the treaty since its independence on 1 January 1993, as a successor state. |
South Africa | 29 December 1923 | Extension by the United Kingdom. |
South Korea | 11 September 2012 | |
Spain | 12 November 1925 | |
Sweden | 15 September 1924 | |
Switzerland | 30 June 1925 | |
Turkey | 11 April 2024 | |
United Kingdom | 29 December 1923 | Extension to Australia, Canada, India, New Zealand and South Africa. Ireland also applied the treaty since its ratification by the United Kingdom. |
United States | 2 April 1924 | |
Venezuela | 8 February 1928 |
Svalbard, previously known as Spitsbergen or Spitzbergen, is a Norwegian archipelago in the Arctic Ocean. North of mainland Europe, it lies about midway between the northern coast of Norway and the North Pole. The islands of the group range from 74° to 81° north latitude, and from 10° to 35° east longitude. The largest island is Spitsbergen, followed in size by Nordaustlandet and Edgeøya. The largest settlement is Longyearbyen on the west coast of Spitsbergen.
Spitsbergen is the largest and the only permanently populated island of the Svalbard archipelago in northern Norway.
Bear Island is the southernmost island of the Norwegian Svalbard archipelago. The island is located at the limits of the Norwegian and Barents seas, approximately halfway between Spitsbergen and the North Cape. Bear Island was discovered by Dutch explorers Willem Barentsz and Jacob van Heemskerck on 10 June 1596. It was named after a polar bear that was seen swimming nearby. The island was considered terra nullius until the Spitsbergen Treaty of 1920 placed it under Norwegian sovereignty.
Svalbard and Jan Mayen is a statistical designation defined by ISO 3166-1 for a collective grouping of two remote jurisdictions of Norway: Svalbard and Jan Mayen. While the two are combined for the purposes of the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) category, they are not administratively related. This has further resulted in the country code top-level domain .sj being issued for Svalbard and Jan Mayen, and ISO 3166-2:SJ. The United Nations Statistics Division also uses this code, but has named it the Svalbard and Jan Mayen Islands.
Longyearbyen is the world's northernmost settlement with a population greater than 1,000, and the largest inhabited area of Svalbard, Norway. It stretches along the foot of the left bank of the Longyear Valley and on the shore of Adventfjorden, the short estuary leading into Isfjorden on the west coast of Spitsbergen, the island's broadest inlet. As of 2002 Longyearbyen Community Council became an official Norwegian municipality. It is the seat of the Governor of Svalbard. The town's mayor is Arild Olsen.
A condominium in international law is a political territory in or over which multiple sovereign powers formally agree to share equal dominium and exercise their rights jointly, without dividing it into "national" zones.
The terms international waters or transboundary waters apply where any of the following types of bodies of water transcend international boundaries: oceans, large marine ecosystems, enclosed or semi-enclosed regional seas and estuaries, rivers, lakes, groundwater systems (aquifers), and wetlands.
Barentsburg is the second-largest settlement in Svalbard, Norway, with about 455 inhabitants (2020). A coal mining town, the settlement was almost entirely made up of ethnic Russians and Ukrainians. With the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, most of the Ukrainian citizens were reported to have left.
The polar archipelago of Svalbard was first discovered by Willem Barentsz in 1596, although there is disputed evidence of use by Pomors or Norsemen. Whaling for bowhead whales started in 1611, dominated by English and Dutch companies, though other countries participated. At that time there was no agreement about sovereignty. Whaling stations, the largest being Smeerenburg, were built during the 17th century, but gradually whaling decreased. Hunting was carried out from the 17th century by Pomors, but from the 19th century it became more dominated by Norwegians.
An exclusive economic zone (EEZ), as prescribed by the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, is an area of the sea in which a sovereign state has exclusive rights regarding the exploration and use of marine resources, including energy production from water and wind.
Svalbard lies under the sovereignty of Norway, but the Svalbard Treaty places several restrictions. Norway cannot use the archipelago for warlike purposes, cannot discriminate economic activity based on nationality and is required to conserve the natural environment. Uniquely, Svalbard is an entirely visa-free zone. Everybody may live and work in Svalbard indefinitely regardless of country of citizenship. Svalbard Treaty grants treaty nationals equal right of abode as Norwegian nationals. Non-treaty nationals may live and work indefinitely visa-free as well. "Regulations concerning rejection and expulsion from Svalbard" is in force on non-discriminatory basis.
The Arctic consists of land, internal waters, territorial seas, exclusive economic zones (EEZs) and international waters above the Arctic Circle. All land, internal waters, territorial seas and EEZs in the Arctic are under the jurisdiction of one of the eight Arctic coastal states: Canada, Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, Russia, Sweden and the United States. International law regulates this area as with other portions of Earth.
The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to Svalbard:
The economy of Svalbard is dominated by coal mining, tourism and research. In 2007, there were 484 people working in the mining sector, 211 people working in the tourism sector and 111 people working in the education sector. The same year, mining gave a revenue of 2.008 billion kr, tourism NOK 317 million and research 142 million. In 2006, the average income for economically active people was NOK 494,700, or 23% higher than on the mainland. Almost all housing is owned by the various employers and institutions and rented to their employees; there are only a few privately owned houses, most of which are recreational cabins. Because of this, it is nearly impossible to live on Svalbard without working for an established institution. The Spitsbergen Treaty and Svalbard Act established Svalbard as an economic free zone and demilitarized zone in 1925.
Indre Wijdefjorden National Park is located in a steep fjord landscape in northern Spitsbergen in Svalbard, Norway. It covers the inner part of Wijdefjorden—the longest fjord on Svalbard. The national park was established on 9 September 2005 and covers 1,127 km2 (435 sq mi), of which 745 km2 (288 sq mi) is on land and 382 km2 (147 sq mi) is sea. The marine environment changes vastly from the mouth of the fjord, through a still, cold, water basin, becoming deeper before reaching the glacier Mittag-Lefflerbreen at the inner-most sections of the fjord.
Svalbard is an Arctic, wilderness archipelago comprising the northernmost part of Norway. It is mostly uninhabited, with only about 3,000 people, yet covers an area of 61,020 square kilometres (23,560 sq mi).
Arctic cooperation and politics are partially coordinated via the Arctic Council, composed of the eight Arctic states: the United States, Canada, Iceland, Norway, Sweden, Finland, Russia, and Denmark with Greenland and the Faroe Islands. The dominant governmental power in Arctic policy resides within the executive offices, legislative bodies, and implementing agencies of the eight Arctic countries, and to a lesser extent other countries, such as United Kingdom, Germany, European Union and China. NGOs and academia play a large part in Arctic policy. Also important are intergovernmental bodies such as the United Nations and NATO.
The Barentsburg Pomor Museum is a small museum located in Barentsburg, a town in Svalbard, a Norwegian archipelago in the Arctic Ocean. Founded during the 1920s by the Dutch, the coal mining settlement was sold to the Soviet Union in 1932, and so it was the USSR which founded the museum in 1963. Today owned entirely by the Government of Russia through Arktikugol, Barentsburg is a shadow of its former self, with only a few hundred inhabitants compared to over a thousand during its heyday. The museum remains intact, however, receiving most of its visitors in the form of tourists. It shares the same building as the town's Sports and Culture Centre.
The Barents Sea is a secluded part of the Arctic Ocean divided between Norway and Russia. The politics in the Barents Sea is of paramount importance for the 2 countries relationship, showing both maritime conflict and maritime cooperation.
Svalbard, an archipelago in the Arctic Ocean belonging to the Kingdom of Norway, uses Central European Time (CET) during the winter as standard time, which is one hour ahead of Coordinated Universal Time (UTC+01:00), and Central European Summer Time (CEST) during the summer as daylight saving time, which is two hours ahead of Coordinated Universal Time (UTC+02:00). This is shared with the rest of Norway, as is Svalbard's use of daylight saving time, which the territory observes annually by advancing the clock forward on the last Sunday in March and back again on the last Sunday in October. However, as Svalbard experiences midnight sun during the summer due to being located north of the Arctic Circle, it gives daylight saving time no utility, and is only observed in order to make communicating with Norway Proper more convenient. At the 74th parallel north, the midnight sun lasts 99 days and polar night 84 days, while the respective figures at the 81st parallel north are 141 and 128 days.