Saturday, 17 October 2015

FOR PEACEFUL USES OF OUTER SPACE.. UNOOSA

Photo Credit (c) UNOOSA Official page on facebook
The UN Office for Outer Space Affairs (UNOOSA) was initially established on 13th December 1958 by a General Assembly resolution as a expert unit within the Secretariat for providing services to the ad hoc UNCOPUOS. It was later transformed due to increasing demand, and became an Office for Outer Space Affairs within the department for Political Affairs. It is the United Nations office responsible for promoting international cooperation in the peaceful uses of outer space. In 1993 relocated to Vienna and assumed responsibility for substantive secretariat services to the Legal Subcommittee (previously it had been provided by the Office of Legal Affairs in New York).

Now UNOOSA represents the main organisation for space affairs within the United Nations, which implements the decisions of the General Assembly and the UN Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space (UNCOPUOS), and is the primary international forum for the development of laws and principles governing outer space. Its field of activity is to support intergovernmental discussions and the Committee and its Scientific and Technical Subcommittee and Legal Subcommittee. 

Moreover, it assists developing countries in using space technology for development and also follows all scientific and technical developments relating to outer space affairs. It maintains the Register of Space Objects on behalf of the Secretary General and also collects other relevant data and documentation. 


UNOOSA provides sufficient information to other specialised agencies of UN to coordinate their activities. In order to fulfil this goal more efficiently, UNOOSA organises an annual UN Inter-Agency Meeting on Outer Space Activities since 1980. The aim of these meetings is to discuss current and future activities, newest technologies and all other relevant matters. After the meeting two reports are produced and one is sent to UNCOPUOS and the second one is a report on the coordinated space-related activities of the UN system. 

The UN Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space (UNCOPUOS) was established in 1958 as an ad hoc committee by the General Assembly, who recognised the need for a mechanism ensuring cooperation on a global level in outer space activities. At the beginning UNCOPUOS had 18 member States and over the years this number increased to 77 in 2014. 

54th Legal Subcommittee of UNCOPUOS, 2015
UNCOPUOS contains one full committee and two subcommittees, the Scientific and Technical Subcommittee and the Legal Subcommittee, the Legal Subcommittee usually being responsible for the initial drafts regarding legal matters. Each subcommittee prepares a report that is given to main committee, and the main committee prepares the final annual report. The final report then goes to UN General Assembly and every year a resolution is adopted. UNCOPUOS normally proceeds by consensus. In practice this means that a proposal is made inside the UNCOPUOS and this is then negotiated and revised until all are willing to accept it and allow it to go to forward...