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United Nations Policy Memorandum Outer Space Peace and Full Demilitarization Safeguarding Humanity’s Shared Future Beyond Earth

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日期:2026/01/19   IAE Frank Chen

United Nations Policy Memorandum

Outer Space Peace and Full Demilitarization

Safeguarding Humanity’s Shared Future Beyond Earth

Purpose

This Policy Memorandum provides a strategic framework for advancing the full demilitarization of outer space as a core pillar of global peace, sustainable development, and life-centered governance. It responds to accelerating risks arising from military expansion into space and offers policy directions aligned with United Nations principles and international law.

Background

Outer space has long been recognized as the common heritage of humankind. However, recent years have seen a rapid escalation in:

  • The establishment of national space military commands

  • Development and testing of anti-satellite (ASAT) capabilities

  • Integration of space systems into nuclear and hypersonic deterrence strategies

  • Increased opacity and strategic rivalry in orbital domains

These developments mark a fundamental shift from peaceful use toward militarized competition, raising the likelihood of conflict that could irreversibly damage space infrastructure essential to modern civilization.

Key Risks

1. Escalation and Miscalculation

Military doctrines in space shorten decision timelines and increase the probability of unintended escalation, with limited crisis-management mechanisms.

2. Irreversible Orbital Damage

Space warfare risks generating long-lasting debris fields, potentially rendering key orbits unusable for generations (Kessler Syndrome).

3. Threats to Sustainable Development

Space assets underpin climate monitoring, disaster response, food security, navigation, and global communications—critical enablers of the SDGs.

4. Erosion of Global Trust

Militarization undermines confidence in international cooperation and accelerates arms race dynamics beyond existing legal safeguards.

Normative and Legal Context

  • Outer Space Treaty (1967) establishes peaceful use but lacks enforcement and coverage of conventional weapons.

  • Current frameworks do not adequately address:

    • Military command structures in space

    • Dual-use systems with offensive capability

    • Transparency, verification, and accountability gaps

This legal ambiguity necessitates renewed multilateral action.

Policy Position

The United Nations should affirm that:

  • Outer space must remain permanently non-militarized

  • Security in space must be defined in terms of life protection, planetary stability, and intergenerational responsibility

  • Militarization of space poses a systemic civilizational risk, not a legitimate path to security

Peace in outer space is inseparable from peace on Earth.

Policy Recommendations

1. Reaffirmation of Peaceful Use

Adopt a UN-level declaration reaffirming outer space as a non-military, non-hostile domain.

2. Binding Demilitarization Framework

Initiate negotiations toward an international instrument prohibiting:

  • Space-based weapons

  • Space military forces and combat doctrines

  • Offensive military use of space infrastructure

3. Transparency and Confidence-Building Measures

Strengthen UN-led mechanisms for:

  • Disclosure of space activities

  • Data-sharing and notification regimes

  • Independent monitoring and verification

4. Integration with the SDGs

Recognize outer space peace as a cross-cutting enabler of:

  • Climate action

  • Disaster resilience

  • Global equity and digital inclusion

5. UN Institutional Leadership

Establish a UN Special Mechanism or Envoy for Outer Space Peace and Demilitarization to coordinate policy, diplomacy, and norm-building.

Conclusion

Outer space represents humanity’s most consequential test of restraint, cooperation, and collective wisdom.

Militarizing space would export conflict beyond Earth and endanger the foundations of modern life. Demilitarization is therefore not idealism—it is preventive governance for human survival.

The United Nations is uniquely positioned to lead this effort and to ensure that outer space remains a domain of peace, shared progress, and life-affirming purpose.

Prepared for United Nations policy consideration