Support for UN Governance of Space Explains NASA Development Agenda

HUMAN RIGHTS, SECURITY, DIPLOMACY, HOMELAND SECURITY & TERRORISM

by Jim Kelly

Wednesday, July 7, 2010

Since 1979, the United Nations has been encouraging nations to ratify an international treaty that places the UN at the center of the governance of outer space. The so- called “Moon Agreement” requires that all activities on the moon and other celestial bodies be carried out in accordance with international law, in particular the Charter of the United Nations. The Agreement also provides that the exploration and use of outer space “shall be the province of all mankind and shall be carried out for the benefit and in the interests of all countries, irrespective of their degree of economic or scientific development.” Recent actions taken by the administration of U.S. President Barack Obama indicate that it has decided to support the UN in its quest to govern outer space for the collective good of humanity. This explains the recent statement of NASA Administrator Charles Bolden that “NASA is not only a space exploration agency, but also an earth improvement agency.”
Since being adopted by the UN General Assembly on December 5, 1979, only thirteen nations have ratified the Agreement Governing the Activities of States on the Moon and Other Celestial Bodies (the “Moon Agreement”). Thus far, the United States has not ratified the Moon Agreement. No doubt, the unenthusiastic reception received by the Moon Agreement is attributable to the remarkable UN power grab and collectivist provisions contained in it, including the following:

1. The provisions of the Agreement apply to the moon and all to other celestial bodies within the solar system, other than the earth. (Article 1)
2. All activities on the moon, including its exploration and use, must be carried out in accordance with international law, in particular the Charter of the United Nations. (Article 2)
3. All States Parties to the Agreement must agree to use the moon exclusively for peaceful purposes. (Article 3)
4. States Parties are prohibited from placing in orbit around the moon objects carrying nuclear weapons or any other kinds of weapons of mass destruction or from placing or using such weapons on or in the moon. (Article 3)
5. The Agreement prohibits all States Parties from establishing military bases, installations and fortifications on the moon; or from testing of any type of weapons and conducting military maneuvers on the moon. (Article 3)
6. The Agreement provides that the exploration and use of the moon is the province of all mankind and shall be carried out for the benefit and in the interests of all countries, irrespective of their degree of economic or scientific development. It requires States Parties to pay due regard to the interests of present and future generations as well as to the need to promote higher standards of living and conditions of economic and social progress in accordance with the Charter of the United Nations. (Article 4).
7. States Parties must report to other States Parties and to the Secretary-General of the United Nations those areas of the moon having special scientific interest in order that consideration may be given to the designation of such areas as international scientific preserves for which special protective arrangements are to be agreed upon in consultation with the competent bodies of the United Nations. (Article 7)
8. The Agreement provides that the moon and its natural resources are the common heritage of mankind; that the moon is not subject to national appropriation by any claim of sovereignty, by means of use or occupation, or by any other means; and that neither the surface nor the subsurface of the moon, nor any part thereof or national resources in place, shall become property of any State, international intergovernmental or non-governmental organization, national organization or non-governmental entity or of any natural person. (Article 11)
9. States Parties to the Agreement must adhere to an international regime to govern the exploitation of the natural resources of the moon. (Article 11)
10. The main purposes of the international regime shall include an equitable sharing by all States Parties in the benefits derived from those natural resources, whereby the interests and needs of the developing countries, as well as the efforts of those countries which have contributed either directly or indirectly to the exploration of the moon, shall be given special consideration. (Article 11)

Thus, the Moon Agreement calls for the development and implementation of an “international regime” pursuant to which the UN will govern the exploration and use of the moon and other celestial bodies to serve its global development agenda. The pursuit of a development agenda relating to space exploration is receiving a lot of attention from the UN and developing countries. According to a report from a November 2009 United Nations/Islamic Republic of Iran workshop on space law that took place in Tehran, the theme of which was the “Role of international space law in the development and strengthening of international and regional cooperation in the peaceful exploration and use of outer space," the "policy and regulatory frameworks at the national, regional and international levels are of paramount importance to providing the necessary basis for States, particularly developing countries, to meet development goals and address challenges to sustainable development.”
A main objective of the Tehran workshop was “to promote understanding, acceptance and implementation of the United Nations treaties and principles on outer space.” In conclusion, the workshop report “emphasized the need to continue promoting the universal acceptance of, and compliance with, the United Nations treaties on outer space.” The United States was one of only fifteen nations to send a delegation to the workshop. Immediately following the workshop, at the same Tehran venue, the UN held the second United Nations Expert Meeting on Promoting Education in Space Law.
Furthering the link between outer space exploration and the UN development agenda, on December 10, 2009, at its sixty-fourth session, the UN General Assembly adopted a resolution titled “International cooperation in the peaceful uses of outer space” (the “Resolution”). Among other things, the Resolution:

1. Urges States that have not yet become parties to the international treaties governing the uses of outer space to give consideration to ratifying or acceding to those treaties in accordance with their domestic law, as well as incorporating them into their national legislation.
2. Notes that space science and technology and their applications could make important contributions to economic, social and cultural development and welfare.
3. Reiterates that the benefits of space technology and its applications should continue to be brought to the attention, in particular, of the major United Nations conferences and summits for economic, social and cultural development and related fields and that the use of space technology should be promoted towards achieving the objectives of those conferences and summits and for implementing the United Nations Millennium Declaration.

Likewise, the UN Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space (“COPUOS”) is promoting the linkage between outer space exploration and the UN development agenda. Established in 1959, COPUOS is responsible for reviewing the scope of international cooperation in peaceful uses of outer space; devising programs in this field to be undertaken under UN auspices; encouraging continued research and the dissemination of information in outer space matters; and studying legal problems arising from the exploration of outer space.
One impediment to the UN’s pursuit of an outer space policy framework that balances space exploration with broader development goals is the fact that existing international outer space treaties do not address in detail the development applications of space exploration. At the forty-ninth session of the COPUOS Legal Subcommittee held in Vienna, Austria from March 22 to April 1, 2010, some delegations expressed the view that:

A universal comprehensive convention governing the activities of States in the exploration and use of outer space should be developed in a balanced manner with the aim of finding solutions for existing issues, giving legal binding status to the United Nations principles on outer space and supplementing provisions of the existing United Nations treaties on outer space.

At the forty-ninth session, the Legal Subcommittee elected Ahmad Talebzadeh of the Islamic Republic of Iran as its new Chair for the period 2010-2011.
In furtherance of a combined space exploration/economic and social development policy agenda, on April 7, 2010, the Chair of COPUOS for the period 2008-2009 submitted a working paper titled “Toward a United Nations space policy.” Among other things, the working paper asserts that:

1. Space is becoming a global commons offering a unique vantage point from which to address many challenges of the twenty-first century, such as monitoring and better understanding the phenomenon of climate change and global warming, as well as supporting sustainable development.
2. The changing global context for space activities is bringing into focus the need for the establishment of standards to guarantee the long-term sustainability of space activities. In particular, there is a need for increased coordination of United Nations activities to find holistic solutions to current and emerging global problems.
3. In order to preserve order in outer space, it is desirable that States and international organizations conduct their space activities under the coverage of UN treaties governing the exploration and uses of outer space.
4. The greater involvement of the UN could help to facilitate the legal harmonization of existing domestic and international legal frameworks for outer space activities and to provide a reference policy for nations planning to create their domestic space policies.
5. It is the role of the UN to foster space activities to promote the socio-economic development of developing countries.

Apparently, the Obama administration has embraced the Moon Agreement’s vision for using the moon and other celestial bodies exclusively for peaceful purposes and the UN’s vision for the global governance of outer space for development purposes. An article in the June 27, 2010 edition of The Wall Street Journal, titled “U.S. Seeks Global Cooperation in Outer Space,” explains that the Obama administration’s new policy calls for “significantly greater international cooperation in outer space, covering a wide range of civilian and military programs.” Also, according to remarks made by NASA Administrator Bolden in a July 1, 2010 interview with the Middle Eastern news network al-Jazeera, President Obama has charged him with three things:

1. To help re-inspire children to want to get into science and math;
2. To expand NASA’s international relationships; and
3. “Perhaps foremost, to find a way to reach out to the Muslim world and engage much more with dominantly Muslim nations to help them feel good about their historic contribution to science, math, and engineering.”

On July 6, 2010, White House and NASA spokesmen defended Administrator Bolden’s remark about President Obama’s directive that NASA prioritize outreach to the Muslim world; however, they did so in a manner that emphasized that NASA’s key objective was to collaborate with other nations in the pursuit of NASA’s core mission of space exploration. In truth, the objective of the Administration and NASA in collaborating with Muslim-majority countries is to join forces for an expansion of the UN’s role in the governance of outer space, with particular emphasis on shifting the focus from national space exploration to international economic and social development.
Perhaps this is all that is left to a financially-strapped, deficit-burdened nation that, in 1961, listened to and heeded President John F. Kennedy’s call for a “great new American enterprise,” pursuant to which this nation would “take a clearly leading role in space achievement, which in many ways may hold the key to our future on earth.” Meanwhile, an article in the April 14, 2010 edition of The Wall Street Journal, titled “China Sets Ambitious Space Goals,” reports that “China’s manned space program aims to leapfrog the U.S. by deploying advanced spacecraft and in-orbit refueling systems as early as 2016, when American astronauts still may be relying on rides on Russian spaceships.”
Jim Kelly is the President of Solidarity Center for Law and Justice, P.C., a public interest civil and human rights law firm based in Atlanta, Georgia. The opinions expressed herein are his own.