The third day of COPUOS

On Friday, the agenda items on general exchange of views and ways and means of preserving peace continued.  The ways and means discussion concluded.  The next agenda item discussed was implementation of the recommendations of UNISPACE III.  UNISPACE III, the Third United Nations Conference on the Exploration and Peaceful Uses of Outer Space, took place in Vienna in June 1999.  UNISPACE III invited not just to COPUOS members, but all UN member states, as well as non-state actors, to discuss the UN’s vision for the continued peaceful use of space in the 21st century.  UNISPACE III resulted in the Vienna Declaration, which detailed 33 recommendations.  Subsequently, action teams were created to coordinate the implementation of 11 of those recommendations, incorporating the efforts not only of member States, but also of intergovernmental and nongovernmental organizations. 

The remaining two agenda items discussed Friday were the reports of the COPUOS subcommittees.  COPUOS has two subcommittees – the Scientific and Technical Subcommittee typically meets in February, and the Legal Subcommittee, which meets in March.  The Scientific and Technical Subcommittee, as the name implies, considers in greater detail issues like remote sensing, space debris, space weather, and other issues.  Among other issues, the Legal Subcommittee discusses the application of the five UN outer space treaties and national legislation related to the peaceful exploration and use of space.  As with the full committee meeting, a report is prepared at the end of each subcommittee, summarizing the main conclusions.  The reports of the subcommittees are then presented and discussed at COPUOS. 

CSIS will be at COPUOS until Wednesday – please check for future updates.

Ashley Bander
Research Associate, Space Initiatives