Speech on the Treaty concerning Spitsbergen

Your Majesties, Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen,

It is a great pleasure for me to welcome you all here tonight to mark the 75th anniversary of the signing in Paris of the Treaty concerning Spitzbergen.

The archipelago has a much longer and varied history the 75 years we are celebrating today.

In 1194 Icelandic annals record "Svalbardr fundinn": the land of cold coasts had been discovered. "Svalbard" was the natural choice of name for the new Norwegian administrative unit. The Kings of Norway and Denmark laid claim to Svalbard waters long before Grotius.

The rediscovery in 1596 by Willem Barendszoon gave the archipelago a new and graphic name: Spitzbergen, meaning - the pointed mountains. In the 17th century, whalers from many European nations - the Dutch predominant among them - exploited and indeed overexploited the rich stocks in the waters around Svalbard.

At the beginning of the 18th century, Russian trappers and fishermen from the White Sea also arrived on the inhospitable shores of Svalbard, hunting reindeer and walrus. By the end of the century, Norwegian trappers, sealers and fishermen were playing a much more prominent role. Although Svalbard attracted scientists and explorers from many nations, the bulk of economic activity remained in Norwegian hands.

In 1870 the Norwegian Government found it appropriate to establish its authority in the archipelago to provide for orderly administration of an area which was recognized to be "No man's land". With characteristic prudence, we first inquired whether the Russian Government might have objections. And - perhaps equally characteristically - the response from St. Petersburg was such that no attempt was made on our part then to change the status of the territory.

Some years later, coal deposits in the archipelago attracted attention from large investors, and this brought considerable numbers of Norwegian miners and laborers to Svalbard. The absence of responsible government authority - law and order - could no longer be tolerated. The issue was given priority after Norway had regained its full independence in 1905., Again, characteristically, Norway sought a multilateral solution to the question by convening two diplomatic conferences in Oslo. This approach was effectively cut off by the outbreak of the First World War.

The great reorganization of Europe at the Paris Peace Conference also offered an opportunity to deal with the Spitzbergen issue.

Here the general feeling was that a reasonable solution would be to give Norway the administrative responsibility for the archipelago. The Council of the Principal Allied and Associated Powers considered whether this should be done on the basis of the Mandates System, under the auspices of the League of Nations, or in the form of a trust for the international society. This alternative was specifically rejected. Instead, the territory was placed under "the full and absolute sovereignty of Norway".

In return Norway accepted certain "stipulations", which gave considerable rights to nationals of all Parties to the Treaty.

These rights mainly concern commercial activities and ensure equality of treatment with Norwegian nationals in many fields. Norway was required to establish a Mining Code and to abstain from establishing or tolerating certain military installations in the territory, "which may not be used for warlike purpose".

It has sometimes been suggested that this leaves Norway with restricted sovereignty over Svalbard. This, however, is not the case. Norway is assured the legislative, administrative and judicial authority, and wherever the Treaty of 1920 contains no specific "stipulation", Norway's sovereignty provides the basis for measures of a purely national character. This was clearly recognized at the Peace Conference.

Norway's sovereignty was confirmed by some of the early legislative measures passed after we took possession of the territory in 1925. Firstly, it was decided that Svalbard would not be given the status of a colony or a dependency; it would be an integral part of the Kingdom. Secondly, any land for which no prior claims for private ownership had been made was to be owned by the State. Neither of these legislative measures has given rise to objections from any Party to the Treaty in the seventy years since they were adopted.

Norway has always based its Svalbard policy on the responsible exercise of its sovereign powers and on loyal observance of the 1920 Treaty. Nevertheless, the emphasis of our policy has changed with the international situation. Development in military technology meant that the Arctic region gained in strategic importance during the Cold War era. Throughout this era, Svalbard was in a position where one of the superpowers actively exercised treaty rights, while Norway was a close ally of the other.

The strength of government presence has changed, from the time when a part-time Governor traveled by dogsled. Today, the Governor of Svalbard has a sizable staff. His means of communications and travel by land, sea or air to every part of his domain are ensured.

I feel we can take some justified pride in the way in which we have applied the Treaty. We have sought to maintain a certain principled orthodoxy in our application and interpretation of it. Our point of departure was always the text itself, and the principle that limitations on State sovereignty should be construed restrictively.

We recognize that other Treaty Parties may not always have been equally enthusiastic about our approach. Nevertheless, we have been able maintain the principle of equal treatment of all Parties. We have not allowed ourselves to be swayed by the pressure that has been brought to bear on us from time to time, and we have resisted blandishments of many kinds.

Some questions still remain with regard to the interpretation of the 1920 Treaty. I trust that they can be resolved in a manner which respects the legal concepts of the framers of that document, and the political and intellectual climate of the time. The Treaty concerning Spitzbergen is alive and well because we have observed the treaty. Very few other elements of the Paris Peace Conference have survived as long.

I am pleased to announce here tonight that tomorrow, the Government will be submitting to the Storting a comprehensive and updated Report on the Protection of the Svalbard Environment. We are well aware of the fact that Svalbard is the most easily accessible area of the High Arctic in the world, and that this makes it more vulnerable to human activity than most other territories with similarly fragile environments. In our efforts to deal with this impact on Svalbard's unspoiled wilderness, we are always grateful for the contributions of those foreign scientists who are also availing themselves of research opportunities at Ny Ålesund and elsewhere in close cooperation with the Norwegian Institute for Polar Research.

Your Majesties, Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen,

We are celebrating the anniversary of a remarkable and unique international instrument. Treaties are made by governments, but we all know that the drafting of a document is the inspired and painstaking work of individuals. We can still identify some of those persons such as the Norwegian Minister in Paris, Fritz Wedel Jarlsberg, the Legal Adviser to the French Foreign Ministry, professor Fromageot, the American Secretary of State, Mr. Robert Lansing, and the Swedish Minister in Paris, Baron Ehrensvärd. I propose that we drink to their achievement, and to the future of this part of Norway whose majestic beauty is our pride.