UN ready to give technical support to States willing to adopt space arms control

Wed, Sep 12, 2018 | By publisher


Foreign

THE UN Office for Outer Space Affairs (UNOOSA) is ready to provide its technical expertise to member states willing to adopt a multilateral treaty on space arms control, Simonetta Di Pippo, director of the organisation said.

On Aug. 28, Beijing called for the prompt adoption of a multilateral agreement on the control over arms in space to ensure peace and security based on a draft proposed by China and Russia several years ago.

“We are working in coordination with the [UN] Office for Disarmament Affairs, for a few years now, so that we can also bring our technical expertise, because we are UNOOSA, so we have a lot of expertise in the field, or our staff members are experts in the field.

“We can bring a lot to the table if member states want our support in technical terms,” Di Pippo yold Spitnik said, when asked how UNOOSA could work to help UN member states adopt such treaty on arms control.

China and Russia submitted a draft Treaty on the Prevention of the Placement of Weapons in Outer Space, the Threat or Use of Force Against Outer Space Objects to the Geneva Conference on Disarmament in 2008 and provided an updated draft in 2014.

Di Pippo made the comments on the sidelines of the first UN Conference on Space Law and Policy, co-organised by UNOOSA and the Russian government in Moscow.

The conference, which started in Moscow earlier in the day and will end on Thursday, seeks to draw the authorities’ attention to developments in space law, and engage in knowledge-sharing about topical legal and policy changes in outer space.

The conference will also seek to promote international cooperation on the peaceful uses of outer space in line with the UN 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.(Sputnik/NAN)

– Sept. 12, 2018 @ 9:25 GMT |

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