The United Nations and Space Security by Unknown

Author:Unknown
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9783030060251
Publisher: Springer International Publishing

This statement does not directly refer to the perceived mandate of COPUOS. Rather, it acknowledges the status quo of the use of outer space for military purposes, namely that such uses were already part of the exploration and use of outer space and that it would take further agreements to completely prohibit such use of outer space. Nevertheless, the statement also acknowledges that the OST did touch upon issues relating to the military use of outer space, which is exemplified by the sentence ‘to reconcile the ‘ideal’ with the prevailing ‘hard facts’ of the political and military situation’, without criticising or commenting on a COPUOS-negotiated treaty stipulating such provisions. Therefore, and as described in the preceding, there was an implied mandate for COPUOS to discuss such issues, at least when it was considering the OST.

The stalemate on the ARRA in the Legal Subcommittee permeated into the Plenary and the First Committee. The discussion in the First Committee led to the adoption of Resolution 2260(XXII) by the UNGA, which urged COPUOS to continue its work on the ARRA and the agreement on liability ‘with a sense of urgency’.237 This resolution led to informal consultations in which further reconciliation was found between the U.S. and the USSR on the provisions that should be included in the ARRA.238 In turn, this led to a working paper consisting of a draft agreement on the rescue of astronauts, the return of astronauts and the return of objects launched into outer space.239 Unlike the previous USSR drafts, this working paper did not include a reference to intelligence information or even to the need for a spacecraft to be launched for peaceful purposes or in accordance with the Declaration of Legal Principles or the OST.

However, this did not prevent other states from commenting on certain military issues. As the preamble of the draft agreement referred to the peaceful exploration and use of outer space, Japan stated that such a mention should not be hollow and that the ARRA could not obligate the return of space objects used in violation of Article IV OST.240 The statement did not lead to any responses by other states and was not mentioned in the report of the Legal Subcommittee in which the draft agreement was presented to COPUOS.241 In the end, the ARRA was adopted by the UNGA without any mention of any use of outer space for military purposes other than the preambular paragraph ‘wishing to promote international co-operation in the peaceful exploration and use of outer space’.242

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