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In reply to the discussion: UN expands Argentine sovereignty over maritime area [View all]Xithras
(16,191 posts)Argentina has claimed a slice on Antarctica since 1942, has had active claims on Antarctica since the 1800's, and was an original signer of the Antarctic Treaty. Those claims are independent of the Argentine continental shelf. While the majority of the newly approved proposal (and the contentious part) dealt with the Argentine continental shelf, the same proposal also asked the UN to recognize that Argentina's claim to the Antarctica also extended to continental shelves attached to that claim. The panel signed off on that as well.
The result of the claims is the creation of an EEZ that extends from the Argentine shore to the Antarctic shore, as the map clearly demonstrates.
Of course, it's important to remember that the Argentine claims in Antarctica are still limited by the Antarctic Treaty. While the seafloor may be in their EEZ, they are very limited in what they can do with it. The real power in the declaration lays in the fact that they can now prevent OTHER nations from trying to violate the treaty and use the land in their EEZ without authorization.