Space Security Index

Space Security 2011
68
amongst them on the prioritization of main issues on the CD agenda and attempts of some
countries to link progress in one area to parallel progress in other areas,” 92 thus preventing
any progress on the issue of the Prevention of an Arms Race in Outer Space (PAROS). While
the validity of some of Pakistan’s concerns is conceded — many other countries, including
Egypt, Indonesia, Iran, North Korea, Sri Lanka, and Syria have joined Pakistan in seeking
a more “balanced program of work” 93 — commentators say that the country has in fact
backtracked on its commitments to these consensus-based processes, despite its apparent
rm stance that consensus should prevail. 94
Despite continued gridlock over an o cial program of work, the CD did organize four
informal meetings on the PAROS issue in June and July under the coordination of
Ambassador Soares of Brazil. Ambassador Soares provided the Conference with a written
report on these discussions which conveyed the perspectives of members on the possible
negotiation of an international instrument on PAROS. 95 e 2010 session ended in
deadlock, with some countries proposing that FMCT negotiations be moved elsewhere or
that the CD consensus principle be dropped. As long as states cannot agree on how best to
deal with these issues, progress will be stalled, despite proposals to set deadlines for the CD’s
resumption of work. 96
2010 Development
Progress in COPUOS as a working group emerges to take on the long-term sustainability of outer space
activities
While no notable new initiative emerged from the Legal Subcommittee to the Committee on
the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space, on 18 and 19 February 2010, the Scienti c and Technical
Subcommittee (STSC)) established a Working Group on the Long-term Sustainability of
Outer Space Activities and elected Peter Martinez (South Africa) Chair of the Working
Group. 97 e Subcommittee agreed that the Working Group should avail itself of the progress
made within existing entities, including, but not limited to, commercial entities operating
within the space industry, the other working groups of the Subcommittee, the Conference
on Disarmament, the International Telecommunication Union, the Inter-Agency Space
Debris Coordination Committee, the International Organization for Standardization, the
World Meteorological Organization, and the International Space Environment Service and
identify areas of concern that were not covered by them. 98
Figure 3.4: Institutions relevant to international space security
Space Security Impact
Renewed deadlock at the CD heightens recognition that the premier disarmament body
in the UN system is not the appropriate forum to determine the issue of PAROS. But it
also illustrates the larger problem of a near-universal lack of political will to resolve such