Proceedings of the Workshop - United Nations Office for Outer ...

12 EXISTING UNITED NATIONS TREATIES: STRENGTHS AND NEEDSAchievements of the UnitedNations in the establishment ofinternational space law by a seriesof space treatiesLet us first concentrate on the role and achievements ofthe United Nations in the establishment of internationalspace law as a special system within the presentinternational law. Its purpose is to govern all activities,or different categories of such activities, in and relatingto outer space including celestial bodies.It is generally known that the space legislation inthe United Nations has been worked out through theCommittee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space(COPUOS), which was established by GeneralAssembly resolution 1348 (XIII) of December 1958,first as an Ad hoc body, and then transformed one yearlater by resolution 1472 (XIV) of 12 December 1959into a permanent organ of the General Assembly.During its existence, the membership of the Committeewas expanded several times and by its present number(61 States) includes approximately one third of thewhole UN membership. Since the early 1960's, theCOPUOS has become the focal point for all spacerelatedcooperative programmes furthered by the UnitedNations. Two subcommittees, one Legal, the otherScientific and Technical, each composed of the sameMember States as the parent body, were created fordetailed consideration of specific proposals andsuggestions concerning scientific, technical and legalproblems submitted by the COPUOS members for thedevelopment of international cooperation in the field ofspace exploration for peaceful purposes. In addition tothe Member States, a number of internationalorganizations, both intergovernmental and nongovernmental,which are dedicated to the developmentof international space cooperation, have been grantedthe status of observers in the Committee and itssubcommittees. In this way, the basis for a meaningfuldiscussion on space issues has been enlarged. Fromamong the specialised organisations of the UN system,the participation of the ITU has proven to be veryvaluable, particularly when discussing the issue ofGeostationary Satellite Orbit. The European SpaceAgency has been one of those actively participatingorganizations, too. Moreover, some non-governmentalorganizations, such as COSPAR, IAF and ILA, havebeen granted the observer status within COPUOS andparticipate regularly in its work.Right in the beginning of the COPUOSdeliberations, an important decision was made whichsince then has characterised its working methods up-tonow:the conclusions to be adopted by the Committeeand both its subcommittees should be subject toagreement without need for voting.3 It should beobserved that the COPUOS thus became the first UNbody which started applying in its proceedings aprinciple that has become later known as rule ofconsensus and expanded in the practice of the UnitedNations and also in other international organizations.The application of this rule has mostly had positiveeffects on the work of the Committee and itssubcommittees, particularly during the first decades oftheir activities. Its extensive interpretation andapplication, however, has also created problems.From the substantive point of view, the COPUOSand its Legal Subcommittee, in which the considerationof legal aspects of space activities has been effectednow for almost four decades, adopted the method of aprogressive elaboration of appropriate space lawinstruments. The rule of law in outer space should thusbe established not by a single, all embracinginternational convention, but step-by-step, by a numberof legal instruments dealing with the most urgentproblems of space activities. Moreover, the initialdiscussions in the Legal Subcommittee led to theconclusion that the first legal basis for space activitiesshould be conceived rather in principles than in detailedrules, in order to reach the necessary agreementrelatively soon. In this way, the founding spacelegislative document of the United Nations emerged asthe 1963 Declaration of Principles Governing theActivities of States in the Exploration and Use of OuterSpace, which was adopted in the form of a UN General3 Cf. the statement of the Chairman of the COPUOS inVerbatim Records of the Ninth Meeting held on 29 March1962, UN Doc. A/AC. 105/PV.93/1962, p.3.