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

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14 EXISTING UNITED NATIONS TREATIES: STRENGTHS AND NEEDSouter space per se. only the stationing of nuclearweapons or any kinds of weapons of mass destructionwas banned. At the time of conclusion of OST, thissolution was a significant step forward, but the dangerof an arms race in outer space, as evidenced by the laterdevelopments, has not been fully stopped. Furthermorewhile declaring - and thus undoubtedly legalizing - theexploration and use of outer space, including the Moonand other celestial bodies, as well as the scientificinvestigation thereof, the OST has not contained anyexplicit principle that would be to explore and exploitthe space natural resources. At the time of elaborationof the OST, these problems still seemed to be tooremote or perhaps they were deliberately left aside.Moreover, only some rudimentary elements relating tothe position of international organisations have beenprovided in the OST. And last but not least, no specialsystem of the peaceful settlement of internationaldisputes has been provided under the Treaty regimeexcept for “appropriate international consultations” thatshould be effected in the case of possible interferencesamong the space activities of the States Parties to theOST.The fundamental role of the OST was confirmed bythe fact that some of its principles created bases forfurther steps in the progressive development of outerspace law. Four other UN space treaties wereconcluded during the period following the entry of theOST into force:The Agreement on the Rescue of Astronauts, theReturn of Astronauts and the Return of ObjectsLaunched into Outer Space, which elaborated theprinciples of Article V of the 1967 Outer Space Treaty;it was opened for signature on 22 April 1968 andentered into force on 3 December the same year,The Convention on International Liability forDamages Caused by Space Objects, which elaboratedthe principle of Article VII of the 1967 Outer SpaceTreaty; it was opened for signature on 29 March 1972and entered into force on 1 September 1972;The Convention on Registration of ObjectsLaunched into Outer Space, which elaborated the firstprinciple of Article VIII of the 1967 Outer SpaceTreaty; it was opened for signature on 14 Januaiy 1975and entered into force on 15 September 1976; andThe Agreement Governing the Activities of Stateson the Moon and Other Celestial bodies, which wasbased on the principles of the 1967 Outer Space Treatyrelating to the Moon and other celestial bodies eithergenerally or explicitly; it was opened for signature on18 December 1979 and entered into force on 11 July1984.6This treaty-making process, however, stopped afterthe adoption of the last of these instruments, the 1979Moon Agreement, which has collected so far thesignatures and ratifications of a relatively small numberof States Parties, though it was adopted by the UNGeneral Assembly also by consensus as the other UNspace treaties. The main reason for the hesitation of agreat number of States to adhere to the MoonAgreement seems to be the dissatisfaction with theprovisions of Article 11 of this instrument, which dealswith the legal status of the Moon and its naturalresources that have been declared as “the commonheritage of mankind”. The elaboration of this principledoes not satisfy either the technically advancedindustrial nations, or the developing countries.Yet the solution of this issue as it was adopted in1979 seemed to be an adequate compromise thatenabled the finalization of a lengthy work on thisinstrument. Unlike the legal regime provided for theseabed and ocean floor beyond the limits of nationaljurisdiction in the 1982 United Nations Convention onthe Law of the Sea, the legal regime of the commonheritage of mankind with regard to the Moon and itsresources has been conceived only in general terms,requires only the exploitation of the natural resources ofthe Moon to be governed by the future internationallegal regime and its establishment has been postponeduntil such exploitation is about to become feasible. Inthe equitable sharing in the benefits derived from theMoon resources, which should be ensured for all StatesParties, special consideration should be given “to theinterest and needs of the developing countries, as wellas efforts of those countries which have contributed6 See the texts of these instruments in United Nations Treatiesand Principles on Outer Space, pp. 10 s., 14 s., 23 s. and 28s..
EXISTING UNITED NATIONS TREATIES: STRENGTHS AND NEEDS 15either directly or indirectly to the exploration of theMoon”. On the other hand, the exploration and use ofthe Moon remain a right of all States Parties and thefreedom of scientific investigation has been alsopreserved. The States Parties to the Moon Agreementhave the right to collect on and remove from the Moonsamples of its mineral and other substances of theMoon in quantities appropriate for the support of theirmissions. Finally, the future legal régime of the Moonwould not necessarily lead to the establishment of aspecial institutional machinery for its application (as is,e.g., the Seabed Authority provided in the 1982 UNConvention on the Law of the Sea as reformed by the1994 Agreement relating to the Implementation of partXI of the Convention)7 for the 1979 Moon Agreementspeaks only about “appropriate procedures” to beadopted.The lack of support for the Moon Agreement hascreated a difficult problem, because a visible gap nowexists in the up-to-date international legal system ofouter space. The more so, since the provisions of the1979 Agreement relating to the Moon should also applyto other celestial bodies within the solar system, otherthan the Earth, except in so far as specific legal normsenter into force with respect to any of these celestialbodies. This gap now concerns all celestial bodies ofour solar system.Regulation of space activities byUnited Nations principlesThough the elaboration of further UN space treatieswas discontinued after 1979, the work of the COPUOSand its Legal Subcommittee in the progressivedevelopment of the legal regime of outer space was notinterrupted. During the last two decades, UnitedNations sets of principles adopted by the GeneralAssembly became a suitable form for regulating somespecial categories of space activities for which theinternational community has not yet been prepared tonegotiate legally binding instruments. As of now, foursuch sets of principles have been worked out anddeclared by the UN General Assembly in its respectiveresolutions:The Principles Governing the Use by States ofArtificial Earth Satellites for International DirectTelevision Broadcasting, adopted by resolution 37/92on 10 December 1982;The Principles Relating to Remote Sensing of theEarth from Outer Space, adopted by resolution 41/65on 3 December 1986;The Principles Relevant to the Use of NuclearPower Sources in Outer Space, adopted by resolution45/68 on 14 December 1992; andThe Declaration on International Cooperation in theExploration and Use of Outer Space for the Benefit andin the Interest of all States, Taking into ParticularAccount the Needs of Developing Countries, adoptedby resolution 51/122 on 13 December 1996.8It must be admitted that the negotiation on the firstof these sets of principles, lasting for many years, wasnegatively influenced by ideological controversies of thecold war. The vote effected on its adoption was aretreat from the rule of consensus that should governthe decision-making on space matters. But it must bealso recalled that this decision was not made in theCOPUOS or its Legal Subcommittee, but in theGeneral Assembly under its own Rules of Procedure.On the other hand, the 1986 Remote SensingPrinciples seemed to be a successful achievement inwhich a fair compromise between the interests of thesensing States, i.e. States possessing the necessaryspace capabilities, and the needs of the sensed States,including most of the developing countries, was found.The set of NPS Principles has been but a limitedachievement in this category of legislation. Thoughsome innovatory elements were brought into theregulation of this kind of activities (such as the storingof NPS objects in sufficiently high orbits after the7 See these instruments in Division for Ocean Affairs and theLaw of the Sea, Office of Legal Affairs: The Law of the Sea,United Nations, New York, 1997, pp. 7 s. and 214 s..8 See the texts of the UN Principles in United Nations Treatiesand Principles on Outer Space, pp. 39 s.
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SESSION FOURExpanding Global Remote
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SESSION SIXExpanding Global Navigat
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SESSION EIGHTMaintaining the Space
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220Session 3: Wednesday. 21 July. 1
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223Annex IITHIRD UNITED NATIONS CON
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225No Name Address E-Mail27. Ersfel
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227No Name Address E-Mail57. Koloso
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229No Name Address E-Mail86. Noack,
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231No Name Address E-Mail117. Steph
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