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Background Guide UNCOPUOS JKMUN 2013
Background Guide UNCOPUOS JKMUN 2013
Table of Contents
Letter from the Executive Board.3 Committee Structure.4 Overview..............................5 Agenda ...5 International space law....5 The Outer Space Treaty.................7 Recent Developments...........10 Role of the United Nations and other major actors.......11 United Nations.....11 United States of America...12 United Kingdom...12 Russian Federation....13 COSPAR......13 Major Space Agencies ......14 Bibliography..14
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the activities and resources of the United Nations, the specialized agencies and other international bodies relating to the peaceful uses of outer space; international cooperation and programmes in the field that could appropriately be undertaken under United Nations auspices; organizational arrangements to facilitate international cooperation in the field within the framework of the United Nations; and legal problems which might arise in programmes to explore outer space.
In 1959, the General Assembly established the Committee as a permanent body and reaffirmed its mandate in resolution 1472 (XIV). In 1961, the General Assembly, considering that the United Nations should provide a focal point international cooperation in the peaceful exploration and use of outer space, requested the Committee, in cooperation with the Secretary-General and making full use of the functions and resources of the Secretariat.
AGENDA
International dissemination on outer space with special reference to the Outer Space Treaty
International Space Law
International Space Law is a sub study of Space Law which includes both domestic and international space law. However, it is much more debated and controversial than domestic space law because it is very difficult to come to a consensus when it comes to laws for international space area. Five international treaties and five "declarations and legal principles" were developed through the United Nations, which maintains an Office of Outer Space Affairs (OOSA) in Vienna, Austria. The Synopsis on the four other major treaties on International Space Law is as follows: 1. Agreement on the Rescue of Astronauts, Return of Astronauts, and Return of Objects Launched into Space (the "Astronaut Rescue and Return Agreement") Entered into force 3 December 1968. 90 ratifications, 24 signatures, and 1 acceptance of rights and obligations as of January 1, 2008.
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________________________ Links for further research: en i ipedia org i i Outer Space Treat unoosa org oosa Space a outerspt html www.unoosa.org/pdf/publications/STSPACE11E.pdf
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RECENT DEVELOPMENTS
During the last five decades, an international legal basis for space activities was built up. It was established in the United Nations through its Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space and its Legal Subcommittee, which contributed to the progressive development of international law in a special field of outer space. The present system of space law now comprises the UN Space Treaties and Principles, other international space agreements and also national laws, which complete international norms by national regulations of activities performed under the jurisdiction of individual States. Since more than two decades, there are important new developments that may change also the legal order for outer space activities. At least, we can observe a considerable difference to the beginning of the space age when there were only two space powers, the United States of America and the then Soviet Union. The tendency towards commercialization as an orientation towards profit-making and even to privatization and a considerably growing number of users of outer space may ask for new answers and may ask for new legal regulation. In the following, the attempt will be made to briefly sketch out the changing parameters of the use of outer space and then to come up with a description of the present and perhaps the challenges of the future legal order. The first man-made object to completely orbit the Earth was the Soviet satellite, Sputnik, which was launched in 1957. In 1958, the US followed with the Explorer satellite. At the time, what was most significant about these launches was that they showed that each country had the capability to fire intercontinental ballistic missiles at the other. This took the terrestrial nuclear arms race, which began with the US development and use of nuclear weapons in 1945, to a new level. Since 1957, satellites have become important in their own right. As of 2007, there were at least 800 satellites in outer space, photographing the planet and the universe, and receiving and beaming signals for everything from radios, cell phones, computers, and televisions to telescopes, weather stations, navigational equipment, and military surveillance. Since 1969, Russia, Japan, China, and India have each conducted their own exploration of the Moon. In addition, Russia, the US, Japan, and the EU have explored Venus, 12 and 13 countries have agreed to collaborate to explore Mars. Since 1998, 16 countries have participated in the construction of, experiments at, and explorations from the International Space Station (ISS). The space station is composed of labs built by the North American Space Agency (NASA), Russia, the European Space Agency (ESA), and Japan. It is manned by a crew of up to 6 scientists and other individuals (including tourists) who are shuttled back and forth in Russian spacecraft, now that the US has ended its space shuttle program. This was not the first space station but is the largest to date and the first to involve extensive international cooperation in an effort to share costs. Since the Sputnik launch, outer space has also become a realm for corporate research and investment. In 2006, Bigelow Aerospace, which is based in Nevada, launched the first private space station, or habitat, called Genesis I. Its plan is to lease space to corporations and others interested in research and travel.
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UNITED KINGDOM:
On 18 July 1986, the United Kingdom promulgated its Outer Space Act, which entered into force in1989. The major reason for such legislative action was the growing need to implement domestically, the relevant rules of international space law vis-a-vis private enterprise. The Act itself repeatedly refers to the international obligations of the United Kingdom in this respect. The Act in practical terms applies to JKMUN 2013 Page 12
RUSSIAN FEDERATION:
On 20 August 1993, the President of the Russian Federation signed the Russian law regarding space activities, thus bringing it into force. 25 Included within the aims of the Law is the regulation of any potential private involvement in the activities under consideration. While it should be noted that many issues are explicitly deferred to further future legislation, at this point from the perspective of private enterprise the following picture arises. The scope of the Russian Law in practical terms - as does the license obligation - comprises all activities "immediately connected with operations to explore and use outer space". Space communications and space remote sensing are expressly enumerated as examples, while launch activities undoubtedly fall within the general circumscription as provided.
COMMITTEE ON SPACE RESEARCH (COSPAR): The Committee on Space Research (COSPAR) was established by the International Council for Science in 1958.Among COSPAR's objectives are the promotion of scientific research in space on an international level, with emphasis on the free exchange of results, information, and opinions, and providing a forum, open to all scientists, for the discussion of problems that may affect space research. These objectives are achieved through the organization of symposia, publication, and other means. COSPAR has created a number of research programmes on different topics, a few in cooperation with other scientific Unions. The long term project COSPAR international reference atmosphere started in 1960; since then it produced several editions of the high atmosphere code CIRA, The code "IRI" of the JKMUN 2013 Page 13
BIBLIOGRAPHY:
http://www.atomicarchive.com/Treaties/Treaty4.shtml http://untreaty.un.org/cod/avl/ha/tos/tos.html http://www.thespacereview.com/article/2305/1 http://digitalcommons.unl.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1024&context=nlr http://digitalcommons.unl.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1011&context=spacelaw http://www.oosa.unvienna.org/pdf/pres/2010/SLW2010/02-12.pdf http://www.unvienna.org/unov/en/unoosa.html http://www.un.org/documents/ga/docs/56/a5620.pdf http://www.un.org/documents/ga/docs/56/a5620.pdf
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LINKS FOR FURTHER RESEARCH: