Frequently Asked Questions
1.What
role has the United States of America historically taken with
regard to United Nations treaties and agreements respecting
outer space?
2. Who can convene an International Treaty
Conference for the Space Preservation Treaty?
3. Must the Space Preservation Treaty
be signed exclusively at the United Nations Conference on
Disarmament (UNCD) in Geneva, rather than at a Treaty Conference
or by individual Member nations?
4. How many Member States must participate
in the international Treaty Conference to technically bring
the Space Preservation Treaty into force?
5. Why the difference between the 5 Member
State ratification requirement in the Outer Space Treaty and
the 20 Member State ratification requirement in the Space
Preservation Treaty?
6. Does this mean that only 20 Member
States ratification is needed to establish an outer space
peace keeping agency that can effectively monitor and enforce
the ban on space-based weapons?
7. How will the outer space peace-keeping
agency monitor, verify, and enforce the permanent ban on space-based
weapons under the Space Preservation Treaty?
8. Has an international treaty ever been
enforced against nations that did not sign it, and can the
Space Preservation Treaty be enforced against an aggressor
nation which attempts to weaponize space and refuses to sign
the Treaty?
9. Is the Russia-China draft Treaty introduced
at the U.N. Conference on Disarmament (UNCD) an effective
multilateral agreement to ban space-based weapons?
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1. What role has the United States of America historically
taken with regard to United Nations treaties and agreements
respecting outer space?
Historically, the United States of America has signed and
ratified four prior United Nations Outer Space Treaties.
Source:
http://www.oosa.unvienna.org/Reports/treaty_status_2001E.pdf
The four United Nations Outer Space treaties and agreements
the United States has signed and ratified are:
The Treaty on Principles Governing the Activities of States
in the Exploration and Use of Outer Space, including the Moon
and Other Celestial Bodies (the "Outer Space Treaty",
adopted by the General Assembly in its resolution 2222 (XXI)),
opened for signature on 27 January 1967, entered into force
on 10 October 1967, 96 ratifications and 27 signatures (as
of 1 February 2001);
The Agreement on the Rescue of Astronauts, the Return of Astronauts
and the Return of Objects Launched into Outer Space (the "Rescue
Agreement", adopted by the General Assembly in its resolution
2345 (XXII)), opened for signature on 22 April 1968, entered
into force on 3 December 1968, 87 ratifications and 26 signatures
(as of 1 February 2001);
The Convention on International Liability for Damage Caused
by Space Objects (the "Liability Convention", adopted
by the General Assembly in its resolution 2777 (XXVI)), opened
for signature on 29 March 1972, entered into force on 1 September
1972, 81 ratifications and 26 signatures (as of 1 February
2001);
The Convention on Registration of Objects Launched into Outer
Space (the "Registration Convention", adopted by
the General Assembly in its resolution 3235 (XXIX)), opened
for signature on 14 January 1975, entered into force on 15
September 1976, 43 ratifications and 4 signatures (as of 1
February 2001);
The following United Nations agreement is pending for signature
and ratification by the United States.
The Agreement Governing the Activities of States on the Moon
and Other Celestial Bodies (the "Moon Agreement",
adopted by the General Assembly in its resolution 34/68),
opened for signature on 18 December 1979, entered into force
on 11 July 1984, 9 ratifications and 5 signatures (as of 1
February 2001).
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2.
Who can convene an International Treaty Conference for the
Space Preservation Treaty?
An international Treaty Conference for Space Preservation
Treaty can be convened at any time by any willing U.N. Member
State(s) under the authority of Article 102 of the United
Nations Charter.
Since 1948, over 40,000 multi-lateral agreements or Treaties
have been signed, ratified and deposited with the U.N. Secretary
General by Member States under Article
102 of the U.N. Charter. Under Article 102 of the United
Nations Charter, every treaty and every international agreement
entered into by any Member of the United Nations after the
present Charter comes into force shall as soon as possible
be registered with the Secretariat and published by it.'
As was the case in the 1997 Land Mines Treaty Conference,
an informal group of NGOs assisted the convening Member States
by mobilizing public opinion, preparing briefing documents
for the Member States, and preparing educational materials
in support of the Treaty Conference that took place in Canada.
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3.
Must the Space Preservation Treaty be signed exclusively at
the United Nations Conference on Disarmament (UNCD) in Geneva,
rather than at a Treaty Conference or by individual Member
nations?
No. The Space Preservation Treaty can be independently signed
by individual nations and/or simultaneously signed on
(1)
a 'Fast Track' International Space Preservation Treaty Conference
where leaders gather to sign on; and on
(2) an 'Institutional Track' at the United Nations Conference
on Disarmament (UNCD). The legal authority for proceeding
simultaneously with an international Treaty Conference lies
in the Member States authority to enter into multi-lateral
agreements under Article 102 of the U.N. Charter.
The functional justification for a 'Fast Track' (international
Treaty Conference) and/or a simultaneous 'Institutional Track'
(UNCD) approach to a multi-lateral agreement banning space-based
weapons is the imminent weaponization of space, caused by
the unilateral termination of the ABM Treaty by the U.S. administration
on June 13, 2002. As of that date, there is an international
legal void regarding space-based weapons.
In addition, the U.S. Bush administration has committed to
deploy missile defense, which is inexorably linked to space-based
weapons, by 2004. The deployment of space-based weapons would
take place under the guise of calling them tests,' not deployment.
A multi-lateral agreement banning space-based weapons must
be signed and brought into force as soon as possible.
Objective reports indicate that the U.N. Conference on Disarmament
is presently highly dysfunctional and deadlocked on the issue
of banning space-based weapons. One such report is set out
below. For example, in both 1998 and 1999, Canada brought
forth proposals for banning space-based weapons that were
blocked by this structural disjunction within the UNCD. The
Chinese proposals of 2000 and 2001, which included a proposal
for a draft multi-lateral agreement banning space-based weapons,
likewise fell victim to the structural disjunction within
the UNCD. (But even if the UNCD was functioning properly,
and its been deadlocked for years, it would take 3-5 years
to pass a simple Treaty.)
While the goals of internal reform of the UNCD are laudable,
under the conditions of organizational and factional strife
that are set out in the report below, it is, objectively,
extremely doubtful that the UNCD could successfully conclude
a multi-lateral agreement banning space-based weapons in less
than three to five years or more, which would be too late
to ban space-based weapons. As the momentum of funding, vested
interests and technology quickly being put into place is as
dangerous as is the deployment itself, as it makes the space-based
weapons system impossible to stop.
The imminent weaponization of space will occur within weeks
or months from now. Obviously, therefore, if the world community
waited the estimated 3 5 years or more for the UNCD to conclude
a multi-lateral agreement banning space-based weapons the
ban would be non-existent and space-based weapons would be
deployed (under the guise of calling them research' or tests').
This waiting period is unacceptable. Time is of the essence.
To weaponize space while the world is waiting for the ban
of space-based based weapons is in violation of the mandate
of the U.N. General Assembly in its votes in 2000 (163-0)
and 2001 (156-0) requiring a new multilateral agreement banning
space-based weapons.
Solution: Fast Track' signing of the Space
Preservation Treaty must be set into immediate motion. An
emergency international Treaty Conference on the Space Preservation
Treaty must be convened as soon as possible to facilitate
the signing and bringing into force an immediate and permanent
ban on space-based weapons as early as possible, thereby stopping
the arms race at the only moment in time when it can be stopped,
before it begins (that is, before space-based weapons are
deployed and/or before a momentum of funding and vested interests
makes the weaponization of space impossible to stop.
The Space Preservation Treaty is written in simple language
that is non-controversial so that it can be easily translated,
signed and ratified without debate and quickly. Technical
details can be worked on in NGOs and in various committees
that can describe details relevant to the Treaty such as what
non-space-based weapons civil, commercial and military activities
can continue in space, and on the process of funding, equipping,
and establishing the outer space peacekeeping agency.
Concurrently, much-needed, longer-term institutional track
work at the UNCD can proceed on internal restructuring, factional
strife healing, and on development of long-term solutions
and details regarding the prevention of an arms race in outer
space.
In short, while the Fast Track approach to achieving a ban
on space-based weapons is preferable and absolutely necessary,
there is no need for an either-or choice if some people are
insistent on working only through the deadlocked UNCT on on
the Institutional track' (UNCD) work, and the Fast Track'
Space Preservation Treaty- signing and Treaty Conference can
go forward in parallel, simultaneously.
Please
read the Citical Will Report
which objectively documents serious organizational dysfunction
within the U.N. Conference on Disarmament.
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4.
How many Member States must participate in the international
Treaty Conference to technically bring the Space Preservation
Treaty into force?
The
1967 U.N. Outer Space Treaty was entered into force as international
law when only five countries ratified it. The 1967 Outer
Space Treaty provides in Article XIV(3):
'This
Treaty shall enter into force upon the deposit of instruments
of ratification by five Governments including the Governments
designated as Depositary Governments under this Treaty.'
This
means that the 1967 Outer Space Treaty which outlawed weapons
of mass destruction in outer space technically entered into
force under international law as soon as the first five (5)
Member States ratified it.
By contrast, the Space Preservation Treaty provides
in Article X (3) that:
'This
Treaty shall enter into force upon the deposit of instruments
of ratification by twenty Governments in accordance with
paragraph 2 of this article.'
So
while it took ratification by only five (5) Member States
to bring the 1967 U.N. Outer Space Treaty into force under
international law, it will take the full ratification of the
first twenty (20) Member States who sign and ratify it to
bring the Space Preservation Treaty into force.
The USA fully signed, ratified and complied with the 1967
Outer Space Treaty.
But remember, multi-lateral agreements, such as the 1967 Outer
Space Treaty, which establish a new space policy - such as
outlawing weapons of mass destruction in space which the Outer
Space Treaty does - Can effectively operate only when the
agreement has broad support within the world community. Even
though only 5 Member States were technically necessary to
ratify and bring the Outer Space Treaty into force, fully
96 Member States have ratified it and 116 have signed it to
date. Likewise, even though only twenty Member States are
needed to bring the Space Preservation Treaty into force,
all Member States will, hopefully, inevitably sign and ratify
this world Space Preservation Treaty. And, note, the Outer
Space Peacekeeping Agency will monitor outer space and enforce
this ban.
Note: In the new space age paradigm, when
this high consciousness and high technology agreement making
is being signed into law, enforcement will take place as countries
of the world pool their human ingenuity and resources in conflict
resolution' style.
The international Treaty Conference for the Space Preservation
Treaty will provide a 3 to 5 day period in which all 190 Member
States are brought together to sign and coordinate ratification
and depositing of the Space Preservation Treaty. A similar
Treaty Conference in Canada (1997) yielded 122 signatures
on the Land Mines Treaty. Under a successful Treaty Conference
procedure, a substantial majority of the 190 United Nations
Member States have the opportunity to participate in and sign
the Treaty at this unique and important moment in history.
(And remember, with the first twenty, the outer space peacekeeping
agency will be established, which is the enforcement mechanism
that has not been available until now, to enforce this Ban
and Treaty).
The Space Preservation Treaty is the international mechanism
by which the nations of the world community will work together
so they can protect themselves against any aggressor nation
that might attempt to unilaterally or with allies weaponize
space. The outer space peacekeeping agency will enforce the
ban.
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5.
Why the difference between the 5 Member State ratification
requirement in the Outer Space Treaty and the 20 Member State
ratification requirement in the Space Preservation Treaty?
Very
simply - it is a matter of Treaty enforcement. The Outer Space
Treaty has no independent monitoring and enforcement mechanism,
no agency.
The Space Preservation Treaty establishes a new and unique
outer space peacekeeping agency that will monitor outer space
and enforce the ban on space-based weapons, and that agency
can also, obviously, also use for verifying other agreements
including the reduction and elimination of nuclear and other
weapons and dangerous technologies while allowing the military
industry complex to proceed safely into space without space-based
weapons (and with the prohibition of weapons that could damage
of destroy objects in space that are in orbit)&providing an
abundance of benefits and unlimited opportunities that will
bring all on earth together, including adversaries, as consciousness
awakens and shifts into the new space paradigm.
Most country leaders have already voted in various space treaties
and resolutions to keep space weapons free for the benefits
to all humanity, and in keeping with the solemnity and importance
of this desire and with new international space peacekeeping
agency, the legal threshold for ratification has been raised
from 5 to 20.
In other words, Article IV of the Space Preservation Treaty
provides that Each State party to this Treaty agrees to the
establishment, funding, equipping and deployment of an outer
space peacekeeping agency, whose mission is to monitor outer
space and enforce the permanent ban of space-based weapons
under this Treaty.' The first twenty Member States to sign-on
(and those to follow) will have the great opportunity of working
together as they sign and ratify to the Space Preservation
Treaty to establish this vitally important outer space peacekeeping
agency.
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6.
Does this mean that only 20 Member States ratification is
needed to establish an outer space peace keeping agency that
can effectively monitor and enforce the ban on space-based
weapons?
Because this is an urgent matter for the entire world community,
an emergency international Treaty Conference for the Space
Preservation Treaty is needed that will provide a period in
which all 190 Member States can be brought together to sign
and coordinate ratification and depositing of the Space Preservation
Treaty. A similar Treaty Conference in 1997 yielded 122 signatures
on the Land Mines Treaty.
Remember this Space Preservation Treaty establishes a new
space peacekeeping agency to enforce this ban.
Multi-lateral agreements like the 1967 Outer Space Treaty
which establish a new space regime, such as outlawing weapons
of mass destruction in space, can fully and effectively operate
only when the agreement has broad support within the world
community.
Note:
Even though only 5 Member States were technically necessary
to ratify and bring the Outer Space Treaty into force, fully
96 Member States have ratified it, and 116 have signed it
to date. But, the Outer Space Treaty has no independent monitoring
and enforcement mechanism. The Space Preservation Treaty does.
The Space Preservation Treaty establishes the long needed
way to enforce and to prevent rogue countries from walking
away from treaties and agreements. This Treaty produces an
international outer space peacekeeping agency that will monitor
outer space and enforce the ban on space-based weapons, as
it states in the Treaty, but will be able to also help verify
agreements on earth.
Most countries of the world have already signed treaties or
resolutions expressing their desire to keep space weapons
free and to use space for all of humanity. The outer space
peacekeeping agency will be formed as soon as the first 20
countries sign-on. In keeping with the solemnity and importance
of this new international space peacekeeping agency, the legal
threshold for ratification has been raised from 5 to 20.
As a practical political issue, at a Space Preservation Treaty
Conference, we will get enough signatories to make and enforce
this ban on space-based weapons as a world law. Most leaders
of the world are already on record as wanting to ban space-based
weapons. This Space Preservation Treaty and the Treaty Conference,
gives everyone in the world the opportunity and a supportive
environment, a time and place in which to sign-on.
On April 12, 2001, U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan announced
his support of a ban on space-based weapons. Secretary General
Annan stated that the international community recognized early
on that a legal regime for outer space was needed to prevent
space from becoming another arena of military confrontation.
On November 20, 2000, a U.N. General Assembly resolution to
prevent an arms race in space (Resolution 55/32) was approved
where the final adopting vote was 163-0.
On November 29, 2001, the U.N. General Assembly approved by
a 156-0 vote the basis for a treaty establishing a permanent
ban on space-based weapons (Resolution 56/535). The Resolution
stated that the Member Nations were convinced that further
measures should be examined in the search for effective and
verifiable, bilateral and multilateral agreements in order
to prevent an arms race in outer space, including the weaponization
of outer space.
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7.
How will the outer space peace-keeping agency monitor, verify,
and enforce the permanent ban on space-based weapons under
the Space Preservation Treaty?
The
outer space peacekeeping agency under the Space Preservation
Treaty will be funded, equipped and deployed with the latest
tools of technology and information services that will make
it possible to produce a Space Age effective monitoring,
verification, and enforcement system that will be based
on enhanced communication and observation, on information
sharing, and on technology applications that will benefit
all on earth. With the pooled resources and brains of the
many space-faring nations and the developing parts of the
world, this Agency, along with the forthcoming laws, will
make it possible to prevent any aggressor that would attempt
to place space-based weapons in outer space above the heads
of the people on earth.
The outer space peacekeeping agency will operate the similar
way that U.N. weapons inspectors have during the past decade
on earth in monitoring, inspecting, verifying and enforcing
against the possible presence of facilities for production
of weapons of mass destruction in certain Member States.
However, in space, the job is not to remove weapons, it
is simply to preserve space as a weapons-free zone.
Under Article I of the Space Preservation Treaty, the outer
space peacekeeping agency will be established, funded and
equipped and deployed to monitor outer space and to enforce
the following bans:
Suggested summary of the outer space peace-keeping agency
structure and operations, for example purposes only: The outer
space peacekeeping agency will employ the latest tools of
technology that can undertake monitoring, verifying and inspecting
of possible violations on such bans on space-based weapons
in accordance with published protocols, procedures, and regulations
adopted in implementation of the Space Preservation Treaty.
Operational monitoring would include the full array of open
literature searches, technical and intelligence monitoring
and information sharing worldwide, and notification of violation.
Enforcement of notification of violation and opportunity to
come into compliance with the Space Preservation Treaty will
be in accordance with administrative tribunal regulations
adopted in furtherance of the Space Preservation Treaty. Open
sunshine laws and public access to outer space peacekeeping
agency proceedings will be in force.
Enforcement will be based on conflict resolution techniques,
getting to yes, win-win systems with respect for unity and
diversity, inclusively. Techniques including the enhancement
of communication, education, observation, information sharing,
and the R&D and applications of clean and safe Space Age directly
to solving urgent problems of humanity and our environment,
in partnership, worldwide.
NOTE: The outer space peacekeeping agency
will employ advanced non-violent conflict resolution methodologies,
such as those proposed by Rep. Dennis Kucinich for the U.S.
Department of Peace.
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8.
Has an international treaty ever been enforced against nations
that did not sign it, and can the Space Preservation Treaty
be enforced against an aggressor nation which attempts to
weaponize space and refuses to sign the Treaty?
A close analogy to the Space Preservation Treaty
and the outer space peacekeeping agency occurred at an international
Treaty Conference which began on April 25, 1945, and ended
on June 26, 1945, when 50 nation states of the world signed
a multilateral Treaty known as the United Nations Charter.
Under Article 110 of the United Nations Charter, the Charter
came into force as follows: The present Charter shall come
into force upon the deposit of ratification by the Republic
of China, France, the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics,
the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland,
and the United States of America, and by a majority of the
other signatory states. A protocol of the deposited shall
thereupon be drawn up by the Government of the United States
of America which shall communicate copies thereof to all
the signatory states.
UN Charter:
http://www.un.org/Overview/Charter/contents.html
On April 25, 1945, the United Nations Conference on International
Organizations began in San Francisco. In addition to the
Governments, a number of non-government organizations, including
Lions Clubs International, were invited to assist in the
drafting of the Charter. The 50 nations represented at the
conference signed the Charter of the United Nations two
months later on June 26. Poland, which was not represented
at the conference, but because a place among the original
signatories had been reserved, added its name later, bringing
the total of original signatories to 51. The U.N. came into
existence on October 24, 1945, after the Charter had been
ratified by the five permanent members of the Security Council
- China, France, U.S.S.R., U.K., and U.S. - and by a majority
of the other 46 signatories.
Source:
http://www.wikipedia.com/wiki/United_Nations
Thus, not all nation-states on Earth were original signatories
to the multinational Treaty known as the United Nations
Charter. Yet the United Nations undertook significant terrestrial
enforcement actions against nation-states that were non-signatories
to the Charter. One early example of such United Nations
Charter Treaty enforcement action against non-signatory
nation-states was the United Nations police action taken
against non-signatory states in the Korean peninsula, based
on a United Nations Security Council resolution dated June
25, 1950.
More Info:
http://www.trumanlibrary.org/whistlestop/study_collections/
korea/large/korea62550.htm
The Member States signing the Space Preservation Treaty
do so under the same fundamental rights under international
law as led these sovereign states to establish the U.N.
organization - a terrestrial organization - under a previous
Treaty (the United Nations Charter).
Under the Space Preservation Treaty, the signatory nations
are endowing and establishing a permanent ban on space-based
weapons, and are endowing the outer space peacekeeping agency
with full and plenary powers to monitor outer space and
enforce this ban against space-based weapons, equally against
all nations and parties who would defy the ban, whether
signatories to the Space Preservation Treaty or not.
The Space Preservation Treaty in essence establishes a world
agency, similar to a United Nations of Space, under a sovereign
multilateral treaty establishing a world outer space jurisdictional
authority with full enforcement powers. It is not subject
to the terrestrial limitations of the Security Council under
the United Nations Charter, a prior Treaty that will have
been superceded for purposes of jurisdiction in outer space.
The outer space peacekeeping agency will employ advanced
non-violent conflict resolution methodologies in its monitoring
and enforcement activities.
The United Nations Charter prepared the way for the establishment
of a set of new institutions, including the creation of
a number of U.N. specialized agencies such as UNESCO and
the World Health Organization. Existing agencies, such as
the International Labour Organization and the Universal
Postal Union, were brought under the U.N. umbrella. Together
these institutions have made up what we have known as the
terrestrially oriented United Nations system. The Space
Preservation Treaty in an analogous manner to the 1945 United
Nations Charter creates a new entity, an international space
Treaty entity called the outer space peacekeeping agency,
comparable to the original United Nations organization and
with an enforcement mechanism.
This new Treaty entity, the outer space peacekeeping agency,
has exclusive monitoring and enforcement jurisdiction in
outer space&to preserve space for cooperative, peaceful
purposes for the benefit of all humankind.
The
Space Preservation Treaty:
http://www.peaceinspace.com/sp_treaty.shtml
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9.
Is the Russia-China draft Treaty introduced at the U.N.
Conference on Disarmament (UNCD) an effective multilateral
agreement to ban space-based weapons?
No. ICIS has developed a Comparison
Chart of All Space Treaties, which includes the proposed
Russia-China draft treaty and the Space Preservation Treaty.
(1) The Russia-China draft Treaty permits research, development
and testing, and manufacturing and production of space-based
weapons! Deployment of space-based weapons or systems can
and will (unless we stop this) take place under the guise
of it being called "research" or "testing."
Many technologies in space are called "research"
or "tests" and are not considered to be operational
or deployed until after several years in space. They are
deceivingly called R&D, "research" or "testing" programs.
Also, it is important to note that the proposed Russia-China
draft has no enforcement mechanism to monitor outer space
and enforce the ban on space-based weapons. Thus, in view
of these and other serious flaws, the Russia-China draft
would actually permit the weaponization of space to occur!
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