EU Statement – UN General Assembly 4th Committee: Peaceful uses of outer space

Mr. Chair,

I have the honour to speak on behalf of the European Union and its Member States.

The Candidate Countries Montenegro*, Ukraine and the Republic of Moldova, the country of the Stabilisation and Association Process and potential candidate Bosnia and Herzegovina, align themselves with this statement.

1. The EU and its Member States thank and congratulate the Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space – COPUOS and its Chair, Omran Sharaf, as well as the Office for Outer Space Affairs (UNOOSA) and its acting Director, Niklas Hedman, for their excellent work.

2. This year session is regrettably and worrying taking place amid a brutal aggression in Europe. The European Union condemns in the strongest terms the unprovoked and unjustified military aggression of the Russian Federation against Ukraine which grossly violates international law including the UN Charter, and undermines European and global security and stability. We demand that Russia immediately cease its military actions, unconditionally withdraw all forces and military equipment from the entire territory of Ukraine and fully respect Ukraine’s territorial integrity, sovereignty and independence within its internationally recognised borders. We recall Article 2 (4) of the UN Charter, which prohibits the threat or use of force against the territorial integrity or political independence of any State. This prohibition is a peremptory norm of international law that all States must abide by.

3. Against the background of Russia’s aggression against Ukraine, the EU and its Member States can no longer support the process noted in UN General Assembly Resolution 76/76 towards the UN affiliation of a new regional centre for space science and technology education hosted in Russia. We invite all UN Member States to reconsider their position, and call upon UNOOSA to refrain from initiating any cooperation projects with the Russian Federation in the current situation.

Mr. Chair,  

4. The EU and its Member States strongly support the rules-based international system, with the United Nations at its core, and a multilateral approach to international affairs, including with regard to cooperation on outer space issues. We reiterate that COPUOS and its Subcommittees remains unique international platforms for international cooperation in the peaceful uses of outer space, including on the development of international space law, international norms and standards, guidelines, best practices, and other transparency and confidence building measures regulating space activities. The Committee’s important role for global space governance was recognised by the UN Secretary General in his report “Our Common Agenda” and is further illustrated by its growing membership.

5. We also recognise the important role of the UN Office for Outer Space Affairs in supporting the work of COPUOS and its Subcommittees.

6. The EU and its Member States believe that the space treaties developed in the UN framework constitute the cornerstone of international space law. This UN framework is complemented by other space relevant resolutions adopted by the UN General Assembly. As a responsible space actor, the European Union is exploring concrete ways by which the EU could, in compliance with its internal rules, accept the rights and obligations contained in the appropriate UN treaties on outer space.

7. We continue to actively promote the preservation of a safe, secure and sustainable space environment and the peaceful use of outer space. We continue to stress the importance of transparency and confidence-building measures, the need to foster responsible behaviour in outer space, and the need to strengthen commitments to avoid potentially harmful interference with the peaceful and free exploration and use of outer space.

8. We underline the need to foster increased international cooperation, sustainability of space activities, and to preserve access to outer space for present and future generations.

9. The EU and its Member States look forward to participating and actively contributing to the work of COPUOS and its Subsidiary Bodies, including their working groups. We welcome the agreement on the terms of reference, methods of work and work plan of the Working Group on Long-term Sustainability of Outer Space Activities (WG-LTS) at the recent 59^th session of the Scientific and Technical Subcommittee and look forward to making progress on the implementation of the 21 LTS Guidelines, capacity building and new challenges.

10. The EU and its Member States are already in the process of implementing the LTS Guidelines. Since 2016, and now within the EU Space Programme, EU Space Surveillance & Tracking  has been providing operational 24/7 services for a growing community of users including collision avoidance for currently 300 satellites, re-entry and fragmentation services and is enhancing its  sensor capabilities. Further SST services such as the development of activities in preparation of space debris mitigation and remediation are envisaged. Considerable work is also underway in the EU Member States to implement the LTS Guidelines, for example through drafting or amending national space laws, space strategies and space policies on debris mitigation, international cooperation, as well as capacity building measures. Finally, a concrete EU approach for space traffic management (STM) has been agreed[1] in order to pave the way for a possible multilateral STM approach in the framework of the UN.

11. Furthermore, the EU and its Member States underline the importance of implementing the Space Debris Mitigation Guidelines of COPUOS. We call on all UN Member States to avoid the creation of space debris, in order to preserve the safe, secure and sustainable use of outer space in a peaceful manner for present and future generations.

12. The agreement on the Space2030 Agenda and its Implementation plan in 2021 was another testimony that multilateralism in the space sector produces results. Its role as an “emerging avenue” for the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) through space activities and space tools, was specifically recognised in the Ministerial Declaration of the 2022 High Level Political Forum (para 112). We encourage all UN Member States to contribute to the implementation of the “Space 2030” Agenda as set out in UN General Assembly Resolution 76/3.

13. In this regard, the European Union Agency for the Space Programme (EUSPA) and UNOOSA signed a Memorandum of Understanding, in March this year, advancing the long-standing cooperation between the parties. This cooperation will further contribute to making the benefits of space technologies available to everyone, everywhere. This partnership builds on the common objectives regarding international cooperation in space activities and the use of space technology, data and services for achieving sustainable development. UNOOSA and EUSPA also agree to collaborate to promote these goals and objectives within their respective mandates. UNOOSA and EUSPA will conduct joint studies and user needs assessments, which will feed into pilot projects and the capacity-building component of the collaboration. Capacity-building across a range of space fields will include educational activities devoted to space technologies and applications as well as strong attention to fostering the space economy. A report on how satellite navigation systems, such as Galileo, and Earth observation technologies can actively support the transition towards a world with eight billion people will be published by the end of 2022.

14. The EU and its Member States also welcome the recent agreement on the mandate, terms of reference, work plan and methods of work of the Working Group on Legal Aspects of Space Resource Activities. We stand ready to advance its work in the intersessional period and to support its Chair and Vice-Chair in their efforts to seek consensus on the outstanding issues as mentioned in the WG’s report adopted during the 61st session of the Legal Subcommittee.

15. In 2019 the UN General Assembly proclaimed the Decade of Action to deliver on the  Sustainable Development Goals (SDG), amongst which is the SDG13: „Climate Action“. The European Union‘s Earth Observation programme Copernicus is developing dedicated satellites on CO2 monitoring and in particular a data assimilation service to provide estimations of greenhouse gas emissions. This development is carried out in close coordination with the UNFCCC secretariat and will support the Global Stocktakes as of 2028 with systematic observation and the related analyses, as well as support the parties to the climate Agreement in their policy implementation.

16. To conclude we would like to emphasize that all EU initiatives are developed in the spirit of the international cooperation for the peaceful uses of outer space. We stand ready to collaborate with all stakeholders to advance outer space issues relevant for COPUOS.

* Montenegro continues to be part of the Stabilisation and Association Process.

[1] EU Council Conclusions from 10^th June 2022