Editorial | Deal boosts hopes of peace in outer space
UN body is to be applauded for reaching agreement on actions to address threats and security challenges
Recent global events have raised fears that international cooperation is an impossible dream. Earlier this year, even UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres lamented the dysfunction of a “deadlocked” Security Council as the world enters “an age of chaos”. So it was encouraging to learn that experts representing governments around the world have agreed on steps to keep the peace and avoid an arms race in space.
Members of GGE-PAROS, a United Nations body focused on further practical measures for the prevention of an arms race in outer space, reached a consensus on actions to address related threats and security challenges. After their latest talks on August 16, a report on key components of a legally binding instrument was adopted. The document has not yet been released, but Victoria Samson, chief director of space security and stability at the Secure World Foundation, said word of an agreement was “a huge deal”.
Set up in 2017, GGE-PAROS held sessions in Geneva in 2018 and again in 2019, when the group failed to reach a consensus on a final report. China said the United States was the “sole obstruction”. Last year, Moscow was reportedly among the governments that blocked progress on similar talks at a UN open-ended working group. In the latest meetings, Russia was reportedly key to an agreement taking shape.
There is no time to lose. Space was already a Cold War flashpoint when the former Soviet Union and the US tested anti-satellite weaponry. More recently, China, India, Russia and the US have demonstrated such capabilities by destroying their own satellites. Treaties dating from the 1960s and 70s ban weapons of mass destruction in space, but states have launched other types of weapons. There are growing calls for better safeguards in outer space and a legally binding multilateral agreement to keep the peace.
Space security expert Samson said finding solutions would be difficult as long as leading powers could not agree on the “nature of the threat”. The common ground now emerging proves that progress is possible. Such efforts should be applauded and supported with diplomacy to help dreams of a peaceful future in space come true.
