Zagadnienie militaryzacji kosmosu a prawo międzynarodowe
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Date
1986
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Wydział Prawa i Administracji UAM
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The Question of Space Militarization and International Law
Abstract
Space has been used for many years for military purposes. Yet, i is one
of those types of activity which can be described as „passive". Nevertheless,
the danger of space armament increases, weapons intended against space
objects are being tested. The query is: what is the international legal aspect of
space militarization?
The article consists of three parts. Part I provides the analysis of international
agreements containing provisions concerning demilitarization or neutralization
of space, i.e. the Outer Space Treaty of 1967, the Moon Agreement of 1979,
the Partial Test Ban Treaty of 1963, the Environmental Modification Convention
of 1977 as well as the Soviet — U.S. ABM Treaty of 1972. It follows from those
acts that with the exception of the Moon and other celestial bodies, the military activity
is not forbidden in space, unless it is related to the deployment of nuclear
weapons or any other kinds of weapons of mass destruction. It is only the ABM
Treaty which precludes development, testing and deployment of ABM systems or
components which are space-based.
Part II of the article is the continuation and extension of one of the issues
discussed previously in Part I, which is the subject of particular controversies. It
is the case of interpreting a phrase „exclusively for peaceful purposes" quoted
in the Treaty of 1967 and in the Agreement of 1979. Are the peaceful purposes to
be understood as non-agressive or non-military purposes? Does the order of using
exclusively for peaceful purposes concern the moon and other heavenly bodies
or the whole space? The extensive study of the problem confirms the statements
contained in the Part I of the article, namely that the order of using exclusively for
peaceful purposes stands for using exclusively for non-military purposes and that
the said regulation is limited only to the moon and other celestial bodies.
The de lege ferenda discussion of the scope of space demilitarization and
neutralization is contained in Part III of the article. Considering the already existing passive forms of space militarization and practical lack chances
whatsoever to eliminate them until decisive disarmament moves on the earth, the
author suggests limiting the future solutions to the ban on deployment of any weapons
both in space and those outside it but intended for use in space. The most
favorable solution would also feature a general ban on developing and testing of
any space-based weapon's as well as anti-satellite non-space based weapons. The
neutralization of space could be introduced simultaneously with that type of demilitarization,
i.e. the ban on resorting to the use of force both in space and from
space. The article is concluded with the short characteristics of the recently submitted
drafts of international agreements concerning the extension of the present
scope of the ban on militarization of space. The. most suitable proposal in the author's
opinion is the Treaty on the Prohibition of the Use of Force in Outer Space and
from Space against the Earth, put forward by the Soviet Union in 1983
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Citation
Ruch Prawniczy, Ekonomiczny i Socjologiczny 48, 1986, z. 3, s. 95-116