RYAN INTERNATIONAL SCHOOL MODEL UNITED NATIONS BACKGROUND GUIDE SECURITY COUNCIL

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LETTER FROM THE EXECUTIVE BOARD Greetings Delegates! Welcome to the simulation of the Security Council at the sixth Ryan International School Model United Nations 2012. This council shall be presided over by Archita Gadia. The vice president is Anmol Mittal, and noting the context of this vast agenda, we have the UN Special Rapporteur from the Office of
Outer Space Affairs,HarmeetDhiman.

The adopted agenda drawn up the President of the Security Council and approved by the Secretary General and her office shall be Weaponization of Outer Space for this conference. The Security Council is one of the most challenging and powerful councils at a Model UN conference, and congratulations to you, delegate, to have been chosen to be a part of this council. We expect a highly intellectual debate from you with well worded and effective solutions. We also expect impeccable diplomatic courtesy and knowledge of the UN charter and the five treaties under the UNCOPOUS (which you shall read further in this guide). Wishing you all the very best for this conference! We hope you have an excellent experience. In case of any queries, do not hesitate to contact us! Warm regards, Archita Gadia President (architagadia@gmail.com) Anmol Mittal Vice President (anmolmittal1@gmail.com) HarmeetDhiman
UN Special Rapporteur from the Office of Outer Space Affairs

(harmeetdhiman24@gmail.com)

UNITED NATIONS SECURITY COUNCIL:HISTORY OF THE COMMITTEE The United Nations Security Council is one of the most fundamental bodies within the United Nations. Created by Article 24 of the Charter of the United Nations, its primary duty is the maintenance of international peace and security. The Security Council fulfills this goal in two distinct ways: ruling on critical disputes between countries, and taking immediate action in response to acts of aggression and violence. The Security Council consists of five permanent members and ten elected members. The five permanent members are China, Russia, France, the United Kingdom and the United States of America. Five of the ten elected members are voted on by the General Assembly every year to serve a two-year term. Since the first Council elections, there has been an understanding that every region would have some representation. While some of the details have shifted, since 1968, the Council has included three African states, two Asian states, two Latin American or Caribbean states, one Eastern European state and two states from Western Europe or elsewhere. Among the five Asian or African states, at least one would be an Arab or Muslim state, alternating from counting as an African or Asian state. This arrangement is designed so that the Security Council is representative of each of its member states and therefore has the legitimacy to make decisions on behalf of them all. The Security Council is the only United Nations body that can pass binding resolutions. Every country that enters the United Nations must agree to follow the decisions made by the Security Council. In addition, the Council is authorised to pass international sanction on non-compliant members, refer cases to the International Court of Justice, and even send UN peacekeepers to volatile situations across the globe. These troops are usually armed and fulfill a mission designed by the Council. Decisions on procedural within the Council are made by an affirmative vote of any nine members. Decisions on substantive matter are made by a concurring vote of nine nations, including the five permanent members. If a draft resolution receives a negative vote from any permanent member the draft resolution is vetoed and is not adopted. A state that is intimately involved in a dispute is not allowed to vote on measures pertaining to the settlement of that dispute according to Section 3 of Article 27 of the Charter of the United Nations. In December of 1970, the United Nations encouraged the Security Council to take a more active stance in the establishment of peace in the areas of strife. It is recommended that the Council develop its capacity to take enforcement actions as provided for by the Charter. From 1948 to 1998, thirty-one mandated peace operations have struggled in locations such as East Timor, Kosovo, Angola and Kashmir. Since the 1970s, the Security Council has increased its active role in world politics, and as a result, it has discovered that it walks a fine line between creating

peace and aggravating conflict. The ability to send in troops to areas facing tremendous instability is a responsibility that carries with it, grave considerations. Arguably, the most powerful international body in the world, the Security Council has an opportunity to play a crucially important part in fulfilling the ideals of the United Nations. UNCOPOUS: BRIEF OVERVIEW In 1958, shortly after the launching of the first artificial satellite, the General Assembly decided to establish an ad hoc Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space(resolution 1348 (XIII)), with 18 members, in order to consider:

the activities and resources of the United Nations, the specialized agencies and other international bodies relating to the peaceful uses of outer space; international cooperation and programmes in the field that could appropriately be undertaken under United Nations auspices; organizational arrangements to facilitate international cooperation in the field within the framework of the United Nations; and Legal problems which might arise in programmes to explore outer space. In 1959, the General Assembly established the Committee as a permanent body and reaffirmed its mandate in resolution 1472 (XIV).In 1961, the General Assembly, considering that the United Nations should provide a focal point international cooperation in the peaceful exploration and use of outer space, requested the Committee, in cooperation with the Secretary-General and making full use of the functions and resources of the Secretariat;

to maintain close contact with governmental and non-governmental organizations concerned with outer space matters; to provide for the exchange of such information relating to outer space activities as Governments may supply on a voluntary basis, supplementing, but not duplicating, existing technical and scientific exchanges; and to assist in the study of measures for the promotion of international cooperation in outer space activities. The resolution also requested the Secretary-General to maintain a public registry of launchings based on the information supplied by States launching objects into orbit or beyond (resolution 1721(XVI)). Those terms of reference have since provided the general guidance for the activities of the Committee in promoting international cooperation in the peaceful uses and exploration of outer space.

In 1959, the Committee had 24 members. Since then it has grown to 71 members - one of the largest Committees in the United Nations. In addition to States a number of international organizations, including both intergovernmental and non-governmental organizations, have

observer status with COPUOS and its Subcommittees.Since its inception, the Committee has concluded five international legal instruments and five sets of legal principles governing spacerelated activities: The Treaty on Principles Governing the Activities of States in the Exploration and Use of Outer Space, including the Moon and Other Celestial Bodies (the "Outer Space Treaty"), adopted by the General Assembly in its resolution 2222 (XXI), opened for signature on 27 January 1967, entered into force on 10 October 1967; The Agreement on the Rescue of Astronauts, the Return of Astronauts and the Return of Objects Launched into Outer Space (the "Rescue Agreement"), adopted by the General Assembly in its resolution 2345 (XXII), opened for signature on 22 April 1968, entered into force on 3 December 1968; The Convention on International Liability for Damage Caused by Space Objects (the "Liability Convention"), adopted by the General Assembly in its resolution 2777 (XXVI), opened for signature on 29 March 1972, entered into force on 1 September 1972; The Convention on Registration of Objects Launched into Outer Space (the "Registration Convention"), adopted by the General Assembly in its resolution 3235 (XXIX), opened for signature on 14 January 1975, entered into force on 15 September 1976; The Agreement Governing the Activities of States on the Moon and Other Celestial Bodies (the "Moon Agreement"), adopted by the General Assembly in its resolution 34/68, opened for signature on 18 December 1979, entered into force on 11 July 1984 .s.

Status as of 1 January 2011 Instrument Parties Signatories IGO Declaration

Outer Space Treaty

101

26

not applicable

Rescue Agreement

91

24

Liability Convention

88

23

Registration Convention

56

Moon Agreement

13

---

(Source: UNOOSA)

HISTORY AND STATEMENT OF THE ISSUE The successful launch of the first man-made object into space--Spunik-1in October of 1957 inaugurated an unprecedented era of scientific and technological advancement. Through tireless advancement in the fields of aerospace and astronautical engineering, the first human set foot on the moon at the end of the following decade in July of 1969. An honest and sincere desire for scientific achievement motivated, in part, these great achievementsthese landmarks in progress for the entire species. However another important factor that drove forward these innovations was the intense competition between the two global superpowers of the day, the Unites States of America (USA) and the Union of Soviet Socialists Republics (USSR). Both the USA and the USSR antagonized each other in all possible ways, hoping to gain strategic advantages, as well as to assert technological superiority; the utility of this conflict, beyond the mere prestige that accompanied each successive advancement, came from an overwhelming volume of important breakthroughs in the field of engineering, electronics and communications-all of which had grave ramifications for national security.And so, while the space race advanced important scientific fields, it remains inexorable linked with the militant struggle of the Cold War. Though the conflict which spawned humanitys initial timid steps into the cosmos has long since concluded, it has left a specter hanging over the exploration of space. Since the Soviet and the American space programs took flight in the twentieth century, politicians and commanders have routinely discussed the potential military applications of space. While the existing legal framework governing the usage of space attempts to preserve the peaceful nature of the final frontier, few nations are willing to outright abandon it as a theater of war. Theweaponization of outer space can refer to two possibilities: the deployment of weapons into outer space or the positioning of ground based weapons capable of targeting objects in outer space. The most visible military asset currently deployed by any nation in space is one which civilians around the world are intimately familiar with, albeit very few understand its true purpose. After leaving the difficult planning phase, the United States Air Force began development of the Navigation, Signal, Timing and Range Global Positioning System (NAVSTAR-GPS or simply GPS) in 1974. The GPS, an array of twenty-four satellites in medium earth-orbit (MEO), operates by transmitting highly precise timing information to receivers on the ground, which are capable of measuring the delay between each satellite transmission and subsequently determining an accurate geographical position. The GPS was intended for solely military use during its early planning and testing phase; however, US President Ronald Reagan saw it fit to allow for free, yet limited civilian access to the system in 1983 following the tragic loss of a Korean Air Craft carrying 269 passengers which had accidently entered Soviet airspace. While the tests of the

system began in 1978, it did not reach full operational capacity until April 1995. Nonetheless, the system played a critical role in the Persian Gulf War of 1990-1, during which Coalition forces proved the impressive advantage provided by sophisticated, space-based navigation systems. By allowing soldiers to move accurately through the featureless expanses of deserts and guiding cruise missiles to precisely programmed targets, the passive space-based systems employed by the United States allowed for a swift and efficient victory in the Gulf War. As global navigation satellite systems (GNSS) such as GPS have become increasingly necessary for modern militaries to act on the battlefield, technologically capable nations have become increasingly wary of the goodwill of the United States to provide accurate positioning services; therefore, a number of other nations, most notably, the Russian Federation, the Peoples Republic of china (PRC), and the European Union (EU), have begun development of their own GNSS. Fortunately, most technologically capable nations have negatively viewed the physical deployment of weapons in outer space throughout the majority of humans space-faring history. Such an opinion has its genesis in the first legally binding instrument regarding outer space, the Treaty on Principles Governing the Activities of States in the Exploration and Use of Outer Space, or simply the Outer Space Treaty (OST). Entering force in 1967, the OST is notably to this day for its explicit prevention of the deployment of weapons of mass destruction into outer space. It is often believed that the agreement marked an understanding between the two superpowers of the era, USA and USSR, that space should be reserved for peaceful purposes (such as reconnaissance and navigation). Yet several moments in history have indicated radical reversals of the this prevailing belief such as the USSRs Fractional Orbiting Bombardment System (FOBS) developed intermittently in the late twentieth century and the USAs Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI) pioneered during the Reagan administration. Despite the tacit agreement among technically capable states to not pursue outer space as a theater for the deployment of weapons, many view this as unconvincing, since only a narrow range of weapons are explicitly banned. Indeed the development of various Ballistic Missile Defence (BMD) technologies since the 1960s has challenged the prevailing wisdom regarding the weaponization of space. These systems which seek to destroy strategic ballistic missiles after launch often target the objective at multiple points in its path so as to allow for the maximum chance for eliminating the threat. Therefore, member states developing anti-ballistic missiles (ABM) capabilities have experimented with deploying exoatmospheric or space-based interceptors in addition to endoatmospheric, or ground-based, components. As the legal texts related to these space-based ABM weapons remain conspicuously vague, nations such as the USA and USSR have applied the need for BMD as a reason to pursue the placement of weapons in outer space. Regarding this issue, the UNCOPUOS reached the following conclusion:

The view was expressed that the existing norms of space law had some ambiguity with regard to the non-militarization of outer space such as the first paragraph 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. *and that+, in order to ensure that outer space was used peacefully and to prevent its militarization, the elaboration of a special binding legal instrument was necessary. Therefore, a pressing task for this committee shall be devising an agreement that addresses the evident shortcoming of existing legal frameworks regarding the deployment of weapons in space. Additionally, the weaponization of space also includes the remarkably more sensitive subject of the development of weapons capable of targeting space assets. As mentioned above, the satellites placed in orbit by nation states around the world fulfill increasingly important military and civilian functions; therefore, the possible development of weapons designed to interfere with and even destroy space-based resourceanti-satellite (ASAT) weapons poses a grave risk to all member states. For several decades following the placement of artificial satellites into orbit, policymakers from all concerned states recognized the destabilizing nature of ASAT devices. The recent public testing of ASAT weapons by two member states, the USA and the PRC, has renewed the issue. In January 2007, the PRC successfully destroyed a malfunctioning weather satellite launched by its own government nearly one decade earlier. The action quickly drew concern from other space-faring governments; British Prime Minister Tony Blair summarized the international response by saying, we are concerned about the impact of debris in space *but+ we dont believe this does contravene the international law. In response, the PRC stressed that it has consistently advocated for the peaceful development of outer space *and that+ it opposes the arming of space and the military competition in space. The United States was one of the countries quick to criticize the PRC, yet the USA conducted a similar operation in the following year. Code named Operation Burnt-Frost, the USA successfully destroyed a non-functioning reconnaissance satellite known as USA-193. Citing the sizeable amounts of toxic fuel on the mal-functioning satellite as a public health risk, the USA intercepted USA-193 using a ship-based Standard Missile-3 (SM-3). Though each government repeatedly offered assurances that these tests were carried out with peaceful purposes in mind, states around the world understandably viewed these declarations with skepticism. In light of such recent events, the UN Security Council must carefully consider how the international community shall handle the growing proliferation of ASAT weaponry.

PAST ACTIONS Following the Third United Nations Conference on the Exploration and Peaceful Uses of Outer Space (UNISPACE III), held in 1999, in its resolution 54/68, the United Nations General Assembly endorsed the "Vienna Declaration: Space Millennium for Human Development". The Vienna Declaration called for action, among other matters, to improve the efficiency and security of transport, search and rescue, geodesy and other activities by promoting the enhancement of, universal access to and compatibility of, space-based navigation and positioning systems. In response to that call, in 2001 the United Nations Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space (COPUOS) established the Action Team on Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSS) to carry out those actions under the chairmanship of Italy and the United States of America. The Action Team on GNSS, consisting of 38 member States and 15 inter-governmental and non-governmental organizations, recommended, among other things, that an International Committee on GNSS (ICG) should be established to promote the use of GNSS infrastructure on a global basis and to facilitate exchange of information. The Committee included this recommendation in the Plan of Action proposed in its report to the General Assembly on the review of the implementation of the recommendations of UNISPACE III. In 2004, in its resolution 59/2, the General Assembly endorsed the Plan of Action. In the same resolution, the General Assembly invited GNSS and augmentation system providers to consider establishing an ICG in order to maximize the benefits of the use and applications of GNSS to support sustainable development (A/AC.105/846). Member States conducting space launches have been requested by the Committee to provide the United Nations with information on their launchings. A registry of launchings has been maintained by the Secretariat since 1962, in accordance with General Assembly resolution 1721 B (XVI), and information from Member States has been issued in United Nations documents in the A/AC.105/INF series. Since the Convention on Registration of Objects Launched into Outer Space entered into force in 1976, another register of launchings has been established for information received from Member States and intergovernmental organizations that are parties to the Convention. As of 1 January 2011, 55 States have acceded/ratified, 4 have signed and two international intergovernmental organizations (European Space Agency and European Organization for the Exploitation of Meteorological Satellites) have declared their acceptance of the rights and obligations provided for in the Registration Convention. The information received in accordance with the Convention has been issued in United Nations documents in the ST/SG/SER.E series. The A/AC.105/INF series continues with information provided by States who are not party to the treaty. Approximately 93.5% of all functional space objects (satellites, probes/landers, manned spacecraft, space station components, etc) have been registered with the SecretaryGeneral.

The Registration Convention provides that the launching State should furnish to the United Nations, as soon as practicable, the following information concerning each space object:
o o o o

Name of launching State; An appropriate designator of the space object or its registration number; Date and territory or location of launch; Basic orbital parameters, including: Nodal period (the time between two successive northbound crossings of the equator - usually in minutes); Inclination (inclination of the orbit - polar orbit is 90 degrees and equatorial orbit is 0 degrees); Apogee (highest altitude above the Earths surface - in kilometers); Perigee; (lowest altitude above the Earths surface - in kilometers); General function of the space object. Under these arrangements information has been received from Algeria, Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, Chile, Czech Republic, Denmark, Egypt, France, Germany, Greece, India, Indonesia, Israel, Italy, Japan, Kazakhstan, Luxembourg, Malaysia, Mexico, Nigeria, Pakistan, Republic of Korea, Russian Federation, Spain, Sweden, Thailand, Turkey, Ukraine, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, United States of America and Venezuela as well as from the European Space Agency (ESA) and the European Organisation for the Exploitation of Meteorological Satellites (EUMETSAT). IMPORTANT NOTE: Only official UN reports and reports from Reuters news agency shall be accepted in committee.

REFERENCES:
http://www.oosa.unvienna.org/oosa/en/SpaceLaw/index.html http://www.oosa.unvienna.org/ http://www.unoosa.org/oosa/SpaceLaw/gares/html/gares_14_1472.html