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

Nevertheless, the bearing of the relevant provision of Article VI on the specific field ofspace law and its potential to be of any significance for practical purposes beyond the explicitresponsibility for compliance with the Space Treaty by the relevant international organizations,seemed very doubtful from the moment of its creation.This view could not be changed even with the establishment of Article XIII of the Treatydealing with international intergovernmental organizations, which was constructed for the merepurpose of applying the provisions of the Treaty to space activities carried out by States Parties tothe Treaty, also when they act within the framework of international intergovernmentalorganizations.On the other hand, one should notice the existence of an undeniable tendency in subsequentinternational space law legislation towards a more defined status of international organizationscomparable with States Parties, as subjects of international space law.VI.Space Debris and Article VI of Space TreatyArticle VI of the Space Treaty does not regulate the protection of outer spaceenvironment and space debris problems. It is necessary for us to discuss and incorporate theprotection of outer space environment and space debris problems into the Outer Space Treaty forthe following reasons: the resources of outer space are for the common exploitation of mankind,and it is the common responsibility of mankind to protect the outer space environment.With the rapid development of space science and technology, and especially with thebusy space activities of some major space powers, space debris is steadily increasing in quantityand has brought grave potential threats and actual damage to the outer space environment andhuman activities in space. In the course of increased space exploitation by mankind, the amountof space debris created has continued to increase in quantity and variety.Frequently, debris falls back to earth, which poses a potential threat to man's exploitationand use of outer space. The definition of space debris includes every non-functional man-madeobject in outer space, whether it still exists as a whole or whether it is fragmented, provided thatthe object is non-functional and there is no reasonable expectation of it resuming its originalfunction or assuming any other function.Space debris has become an official enemy of mankind. We must mitigate and removethe space debris in Leo Earth Orbit (LEO) and in Geostationary Orbit (GEO), throughinternational co-operation and agreement in the field of the space science, economy, politics andlaw, in order to safeguard the life and property of mankind and to protect the earth’senvironment. 234)At the 1989 session of the Outer Space Committee of the U.N., Sweden together withAustralia, Belgium, Canada, the Federal Republic of Germany, the Netherlands and Nigeriaproposed that the issue of space debris be put on the Agenda of the Scientific and Technical Subcommitteeof the U.N.. It is desirable for us to discuss more deeply the legal problems on spacedebris considered by the Legal Subcommittee of the UNCOPUOS.23 Doo Hwan Kim, “The Use of Air and Outer Space Cooperation and Competition,” Liability forCompensation for Damage Caused by Space Debris”, Kluwer Law International (Hague, 1998), at 305.