The mission of the Secretariat is to assist the ATCM and the Committee for Environmental Protection (CEP) in performing their functions, with the aim of strengthening the Antarctic Treaty System and ensuring that all activities carried out in Antarctica are consistent with the purposes and principles of the Antarctic Treaty and its Protocol on Environmental Protection.

With the adoption of the Madrid Protocol, which added a series of organizational and coordination issues, the need to create a permanent Secretariat for the Antarctic Treaty became evident.

Eventually, at ATCM XXIV (Saint Petersburg, 2001) Parties reached a consensus to establish the Secretariat in Buenos Aires.

The basic guidelines and the budget forecasts for the Secretariat were drawn up at the XXV and XXVI ATCMs (Warsaw, 2002 and Madrid, 2003, respectively).

The first Executive Secretary was elected during ATCM XXVII (Cape Town, 2004) and the Secretariat started operating on 1 September 2004.