AwaitingLaunch_1397728623369

The UN Group of Governmental Experts
The First Committee of the UN General Assembly prepares and submits to
the full General Assembly a draft Resolution on TCBMs in outer space
activities. In 2010, Resolution 65/68 on TCBMs on outer space activities, the
first such resolution was adopted without a negative vote from the United
States. Further there was request from the UN Secretary General to set up a
GGE to conduct a study on outer space transparency and confidence
measures and report to the UNGA by end of 2013. The GGE has been
formally set up at the beginning of 2012 and included representatives from
15 countries: Brazil, Chile, China, France, Italy, Kazakhstan, Nigeria,
Romania, Russian Federation (Chair), Rep. of Korea, South Africa, Sri Lanka,
Ukraine, United Kingdom, United States.
The GGE held its inaugural meeting in New York on July 23 to 27, 2012 and
two subsequent meetings in 2013, one in Geneva in April and a second one
in New York in July. The GGE worked very efficiently under the
chairmanship of Victor Vasiliev, Deputy Chief of the Russian permanent
mission to the United Nations and the Conference on Disarmament in
Geneva. The Group finalised its report, adopted by consensus, during its
meeting in July in New York. It was submitted to the First Committee of UN
General Assembly for endorsement in September 2013. The report was
thereafter endorsed unanimously by the General Assembly in its Resolution
68/50 adopted on the 5December 2013 (reproduced in annex).
It is worth mentioning here some of the recommendations that appear in the
GGE report: Section VI (Consultative mechanisms) stated:
“Timely and routine consultations through bilateral and multilateral
diplomatic exchanges and other government-to-government mechanisms
including bilateral, military-to-military, scientific, and other channels can
contribute to preventing mishaps, misperceptions and mistrust. They may
also be useful in:
a. clarifying information regarding exploration and use of space,
including for national security purposes.
b. clarifying information provided on space research and space
applications programmes
c. clarifying ambiguous situations.
84 | Awaiting Launch: Perspectives on the Draft ICoC for Outer Space Activities