Statement by Ambassador at the UN General Assembly
debate on the Outer Space Treaty.
On 24 April, the Security Council voted on a resolution tabled by
the United States and Japan, which reaffirmed our commitment to
the Outer Space Treaty. Thirteen Member States voted in favour.
One, the Russian Federation, used its veto.
Outer space belongs to all humankind and space technologies are
critical to our daily lives. From using maps and checking the
weather on our phones, to international shipping and large-scale
disaster risk reduction programmes, the far-reaching applications
of space technologies are embedded in all of our economies.
For this reason, we need to protect and regulate the safe use of
space, while taking appropriate steps to prevent it becoming the
backdrop of the next arms race.
To that end, this draft resolution would have reaffirmed the
existing obligation not to place nuclear weapons in orbit around
the Earth. It also called on states not to develop nuclear
weapons specifically designed for such purposes. After all, if
states intend, as they must, to comply with the Outer Space
Treaty, they shouldn't be preparing to breach it.
The detonation of even a single nuclear weapon in space could
destroy or permanently damage a significant proportion of
satellites in orbit around Earth. The resultant radiation and
debris would render many orbits unusable for a very long time.
There would be highly disruptive and possibly life-threatening
consequences for those essential applications, maps, weather,
risk-monitoring, which would affect all states, not least
developing nations.
The UK therefore voted in favour of this resolution.
There was nothing in this resolution that any law-abiding state
committed to peace and the prevention of an arms race in outer
space could reasonably object to.
And yet Russia did.
This is not the first, but the second draft Council resolution on
nuclear non-proliferation which Russia has vetoed in just one
month.
Russia vetoed the DPRK Panel of Experts' mandate – despite, or
rather, because of the Panel's proven track record of exposing
DPRK's dangerous nuclear and missile programmes, in violation of
Security Council resolutions.
Russia's actions cannot be interpreted any other way. They are
seeking to undermine the global non-proliferation architecture,
and this should be of grave concern to us all.
