United Nations General Assembly Resolution A/69/85

by the United Nations

⁠United Nations

A/RES/69/85

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⁠

General Assembly

Distr.: General 16 December 2014

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Sixty-ninth session
Agenda item 49

Resolution adopted by the General Assembly on 5 December 2014

[on the report of the Special Political and Decolonization Committee (Fourth Committee) (A/69/452)]

69/85. International cooperation in the peaceful uses of outer space

The General Assembly,

Recalling its resolutions 51/122 of 13 December 1996, 54/68 of 6 December 1999, 59/2 of 20 October 2004, 61/110 and 61/111 of 14 December 2006, 62/101 of 17 December 2007, 62/217 of 22 December 2007, 65/97 of 10 December 2010, 65/271 of 7 April 2011, 66/71 of 9 December 2011, 67/113 of 18 December 2012, 68/50 of 5 December 2013 and 68/74 and 68/75 of 11 December 2013,

Emphasizing the significant progress in the development of space science and technology and their applications that has enabled humans to explore the universe, and the extraordinary achievements made over the past 50 years in space exploration efforts, including deepening the understanding of the planetary system and the Sun and the Earth itself, in the use of space science and technology for the benefit of all humankind and in the development of the international legal regime governing space activities, and recognizing in that regard the unique platform at the global level for international cooperation in space activities represented by the Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space and its subsidiary bodies and assisted by the Office for Outer Space Affairs of the Secretariat,

Deeply convinced of the common interest of all humankind in promoting and expanding the exploration and use of outer space, as the province of all humankind, for peaceful purposes and in continuing efforts to extend to all States the benefits derived therefrom, and also of the importance of international cooperation in this field, for which the United Nations should continue to provide a focal point,

Reaffirming the importance of international cooperation in developing the rule of law, including the relevant norms of space law and their important role in international cooperation for the exploration and use of outer space for peaceful purposes, and of the widest possible adherence to international treaties that promote the peaceful uses of outer space in order to meet emerging new challenges, especially for developing countries,

Seriously concerned about the possibility of an arms race in outer space, and bearing in mind the importance of article IV of the Treaty on Principles Governing the Activities of States in the Exploration and Use of Outer Space, including the Moon and Other Celestial Bodies,^[1]

Recognizing that all States, in particular those with major space capabilities, should contribute actively to the prevention of an arms race in outer space with a view to promoting and strengthening international cooperation in the exploration and use of outer space for peaceful purposes,

Deeply concerned about the fragility of the space environment and the challenges to the long-term sustainability of outer space activities, in particular the impact of space debris which is an issue of concern to all nations,

Noting the progress achieved in the development of peaceful space exploration and applications as well as in various national and cooperative space projects, and the importance of further developing the legal framework to strengthen international cooperation in space,

Convinced that space science and technology and their applications, such as satellite communications, Earth observation systems and satellite navigation technologies, provide indispensable tools for viable long-term solutions for sustainable development and can contribute more effectively to efforts to promote the development of all countries and regions of the world, and stressing in that regard the need to harness the benefits of space technology towards implementing and monitoring the United Nations Millennium Declaration^[2] and contributing to the post 2015 development agenda process,

Seriously concerned about the devastating impact of disasters,^[3] and desirous of enhancing international coordination and cooperation at the global level in disaster management and emergency response through greater access to and use of space-based services and geospatial information for all countries and facilitating capacity-building and institutional strengthening for disaster management, in particular in developing countries,

Firmly convinced that the use of space science and technology and their applications in areas such as tele-health, tele-education, disaster management, environmental protection, natural resources management and climate monitoring contribute to achieving the objectives of the global conferences of the United Nations that address various aspects of economic, social and cultural development, particularly poverty eradication,

Deeply concerned about the devastating effects of infectious diseases, in particular Ebola virus disease, to the detriment of human life, society and development, and urging the international community, in particular scientific and academic institutions, to undertake studies on the role of tele-epidemiology in monitoring, preparedness and response activities,

Recalling, in that regard, the fact that the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development, held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, from 20 to 22 June 2012, recognized the important role that space science and technology play in promoting sustainable development,^[4]

Having considered the report of the Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space on the work of its fifty-seventh session,^[5]

1. Endorses the report of the Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space on the work of its fifty-seventh session;

2. Agrees that the Committee, at its fifty-eighth session, should consider the substantive items recommended at its fifty-seventh session,^[6] taking into account the concerns of all countries, in particular those of developing countries;

3. Notes that, at its fifty-third session, the Legal Subcommittee of the Committee continued its work,^[7] as mandated by the General Assembly in its resolution 68/75;

4. Agrees that the Legal Subcommittee, at its fifty-fourth session, should consider the substantive items and reconvene the working groups recommended by the Committee,^[8] taking into account the concerns of all countries, in particular those of developing countries;

5. Urges States that have not yet become parties to the international treaties governing the uses of outer space^[9] to give consideration to ratifying or acceding to those treaties in accordance with their national law, as well as incorporating them into their national legislation;

6. Notes with satisfaction the conclusion by the Office for Outer Space Affairs of a space law curriculum, which could encourage further studies within States;

7. Notes that, at its fifty-first session, the Scientific and Technical Subcommittee of the Committee continued its work,^[10] as mandated by the General Assembly in its resolution 68/75;

8. Agrees that the Scientific and Technical Subcommittee, at its fifty-second session, should consider the substantive items and reconvene the working groups recommended by the Committee,^[11] taking into account the concerns of all countries, in particular those of developing countries;

9. Notes the importance of information-sharing in discovering, monitoring and physically characterizing potentially hazardous near-Earth objects to ensure that all countries, in particular developing countries with limited capacity in predicting and mitigating a near-Earth object impact, are aware of potential threats, emphasizes the need for capacity-building for effective emergency response and disaster management in the event of a near-Earth object impact, and recalls in that regard the recommendations for an international response to the near-Earth object impact threat, endorsed by the Scientific and Technical Subcommittee at its fiftieth session and by the Committee at its fifty-sixth session;^[12]

10. Notes with satisfaction that progress on establishing an international asteroid warning network and a space mission planning advisory group to implement the recommendations for an international response to the near-Earth object impact threat would be reported to the Subcommittee at its fifty-second session;

11. Notes with appreciation that some States are already implementing space debris mitigation measures on a voluntary basis, through national mechanisms and consistent with the Space Debris Mitigation Guidelines of the Inter-Agency Space Debris Coordination Committee and with the Space Debris Mitigation Guidelines of the Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space,^[13] endorsed by the General Assembly in its resolution 62/217, and invites other States to implement, through relevant national mechanisms, the Space Debris Mitigation Guidelines of the Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space;

12. Considers that it is essential that States pay more attention to the problem of collisions of space objects, especially those with nuclear power sources, with space debris, and other aspects of space debris, calls for the continuation of national research on this question, for the development of improved technology for the monitoring of space debris and for the compilation and dissemination of data on space debris, also considers that, to the extent possible, information thereon should be provided to the Scientific and Technical Subcommittee, and agrees that international cooperation is needed to expand appropriate and affordable strategies to minimize the impact of space debris on future space missions;

13. Urges all States, in particular those with major space capabilities, to contribute actively to the goal of preventing an arms race in outer space as an essential condition for the promotion of international cooperation in the exploration and use of outer space for peaceful purposes;

14. Requests the Committee to continue to consider, as a matter of priority, ways and means of maintaining outer space for peaceful purposes and to report thereon to the General Assembly at its seventieth session, and agrees that during its consideration of the matter the Committee could continue to consider ways to promote regional and interregional cooperation and the role that space technology could play in the implementation of recommendations of the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development;

15. Welcomes the fact that the Committee, at its fifty-seventh session, agreed to consider, under the item entitled “Ways and means of maintaining outer space for peaceful purposes”, the broader perspective of space security and associated matters that would be instrumental in ensuring the safe and responsible conduct of space activities, and to identify effective tools that could potentially provide the Committee with new guidance, in a pragmatic manner and without prejudice to the mandate of other intergovernmental forums, and notes with satisfaction that, in that regard, and in line with resolution 68/50, the Committee agreed to consider at its fifty-eighth session, in 2015, the recommendations contained in the report of the Group of Governmental Experts on Transparency and Confidence-Building Measures in Outer Space Activities,^[14] with a view to identifying those recommendations that could, to the extent practicable, be adapted to and instrumental in ensuring the safety of space operations and the long-term sustainability of outer space activities in general;^[15]

16. Recognizes the central role of the Office for Outer Space Affairs in fostering capacity-building in the use of space science and technology and their applications for the benefit of all countries, in particular developing countries, and urges all Member States to contribute to the Trust Fund in Support of the United Nations Programme on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space in order to enhance the capacity of the Office to provide technical and legal advisory services in its priority thematic areas;

17. Endorses the United Nations Programme on Space Applications for 2015, as proposed to the Committee by the Expert on Space Applications and endorsed by the Committee;^[16]

18. Notes with satisfaction the significant achievements made and the advisory support provided to more than 30 Member States within the framework of the United Nations Platform for Space-based Information for Disaster Management and Emergency Response (UN-SPIDER), with the valuable contributions of its network of regional support offices, and encourages Member States, on a voluntary basis, to provide the programme with the additional resources necessary to address the increasing demand for support successfully and in a timely manner;

19. Also notes with satisfaction the continuous progress made by the International Committee on Global Navigation Satellite Systems with the support of the Office for Outer Space Affairs, in its capacity as executive secretariat of the International Committee, towards achieving compatibility and interoperability among global and regional space-based positioning, navigation and timing systems and in the promotion of the use of global navigation satellite systems and their integration into national infrastructure, particularly in developing countries, and notes with appreciation that the International Committee held its ninth meeting in Prague from 10 to 14 November 2014;

20. Notes with appreciation that the regional centres for space science and technology education, affiliated to the United Nations, namely, the African regional centres for space science and technology education in the French and English languages, located in Morocco and Nigeria, respectively, the Centre for Space Science and Technology Education in Asia and the Pacific, located in India, the Regional Centre for Space Science and Technology Education for Latin America and the Caribbean, with campuses located in Brazil and Mexico, and the Centre for Space Science and Technology Education for Western Asia, located in Jordan, have continued their education programmes in 2014, encourages the regional centres to continue to promote greater participation of women in their education programmes, and agrees that the regional centres should continue to report to the Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space on their activities;

21. Notes with satisfaction the progress on the establishment of a new regional centre for space science and technology education in Asia and the Pacific located at Beihang University in Beijing;

22. Emphasizes that regional and interregional cooperation in the field of space activities is essential to strengthen the peaceful uses of outer space, assist States in the development of their space capabilities and contribute to the achievement of the goals of the United Nations Millennium Declaration, to that end requests relevant regional organizations and their groups of experts to offer the assistance necessary so that countries can carry out the recommendations of regional conferences, and in that regard notes the importance of the equal participation of women in all fields of science and technology;

23. Recognizes, in that regard, the important role played by conferences and other mechanisms in strengthening regional and international cooperation among States, such as the African Leadership Conference on Space Science and Technology for Sustainable Development, the Asia-Pacific Regional Space Agency Forum, the Space Conference of the Americas, a process that should not be interrupted, and the Asia-Pacific Space Cooperation Organization;

24. Emphasizes the need to increase the benefits of space technology and its applications and to contribute to an orderly growth of space activities favourable to sustained economic growth and sustainable development in all countries, including strengthening sustainable spatial data infrastructure at the regional and national levels and building resilience to reduce the consequences of disasters, in particular in developing countries;

25. Reiterates the need to promote the benefits of space technology and its applications in the major United Nations conferences and summits for economic, social and cultural development and related fields, and recognizes that the fundamental significance of space science and technology and their applications for global, regional, national and local sustainable development processes should be promoted in the formulation of policies and programmes of action and their implementation, including through efforts towards achieving the objectives of those conferences and summits, including implementing the Millennium Declaration and contributing to the post 2015 development agenda process;

26. Encourages Member States, to that end, to promote the inclusion in those conferences, summits and processes of the relevance of space science and technology applications and the use of space-derived geospatial data;

27. Encourages the Office for Outer Space Affairs to take active part in those conferences, summits and processes, including the Third World Conference on Disaster Risk Reduction and the summit on the post 2015 development agenda, both to be held in 2015, as appropriate and within existing resources;

28. Urges the Inter-Agency Meeting on Outer Space Activities (UN-Space), under the leadership of the Office for Outer Space Affairs, to continue to examine how space science and technology and their applications could contribute to implementing the Millennium Declaration and to the post 2015 development agenda process, and encourages entities of the United Nations system to participate, as appropriate, in UN-Space coordination efforts;

29. Notes that, in accordance with the agreement reached by the Committee at its forty-sixth session on the measures relating to the future composition of the bureaux of the Committee and its subsidiary bodies,^[17] on the basis of the measures relating to the working methods of the Committee and its subsidiary bodies,^[18] the Asia-Pacific States, the Eastern European States, the Latin American and Caribbean States and the Western European and other States have nominated their candidates for the offices of Chair of the Scientific and Technical Subcommittee, First Vice-Chair of the Committee, Chair of the Legal Subcommittee and Chair of the Committee, respectively, for the period 2016–2017;^[19]

30. Urges the African States to nominate their candidate for the office of Second Vice-Chair/Rapporteur of the Committee for the period 2016–2017 before the next session of the Committee;

31. Agrees that, upon the nomination of the candidate of the African States, the Committee and its subsidiary bodies, at their respective sessions in 2016, should elect their officers nominated for the period 2016–2017;

32. Decides that Luxembourg shall become a member of the Committee;^[20]

33. Endorses the decision of the Committee to grant permanent observer status to the African Association of Remote Sensing of the Environment;^[21]

34. Encourages the regional groups to promote active participation in the work of the Committee and its subsidiary bodies by the States members of the Committee that are also members of the respective regional groups.

64th plenary meeting
5 December 2014

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1. United Nations, Treaty Series, vol. 610, No. 8843.
2. Resolution 55/2.
3. The term “disasters” refers to natural or technological disasters.
4. Resolution 66/288, annex, para. 274.
5. Official Records of the General Assembly, Sixty-ninth Session, Supplement No. 20 (A/69/20).
6. Ibid., para. 393.
7. Ibid., chap. II.C; and A/AC.105/1067.
8. Official Records of the General Assembly, Sixty-ninth Session, Supplement No. 20 (A/69/20), paras. 283–285.
9. Treaty on Principles Governing the Activities of States in the Exploration and Use of Outer Space, including the Moon and Other Celestial Bodies (United Nations, Treaty Series, vol. 610, No. 8843); Agreement on the Rescue of Astronauts, the Return of Astronauts and the Return of Objects Launched into Outer Space (United Nations, Treaty Series, vol. 672, No. 9574); Convention on International Liability for Damage Caused by Space Objects (United Nations, Treaty Series, vol. 961, No. 13810); Convention on Registration of Objects Launched into Outer Space (United Nations, Treaty Series, vol. 1023, No. 15020); and Agreement Governing the Activities of States on the Moon and Other Celestial Bodies (United Nations, Treaty Series, vol. 1363, No. 23002).
10. Official Records of the General Assembly, Sixty-ninth Session, Supplement No. 20 (A/69/20), chap. II.B; and A/AC.105/1065.
11. Official Records of the General Assembly, Sixty-ninth Session, Supplement No. 20 (A/69/20), paras. 209–211.
12. Ibid., Sixty-eighth Session, Supplement No. 20 (A/68/20), para. 144; and A/AC.105/1038, para. 198, and annex III.
13. Official Records of the General Assembly, Sixty-second Session, Supplement No. 20 (A/62/20), annex.
14. A/68/189.
15. Official Records of the General Assembly, Sixty-ninth Session, Supplement No. 20 (A/69/20), paras. 372 and 373.
16. Ibid., para. 81; and A/AC.105/1062.
17. Official Records of the General Assembly, Fifty-eighth Session, Supplement No. 20 (A/58/20), annex II, paras. 5–9.
18. Ibid., Fifty-second Session, Supplement No. 20 (A/52/20), annex I; and ibid., Fifty-eighth Session, Supplement No. 20 (A/58/20), annex II, appendix III.
19. Ibid., Sixty-ninth Session, Supplement No. 20 (A/69/20), paras. 381 and 382; and official communications from the Office for Outer Space Affairs to States members of the Committee dated 15 September and 7 October 2014.
20. Official Records of the General Assembly, Sixty-ninth Session, Supplement No. 20 (A/69/20), para. 385.
21. Ibid., para. 387.