Pakistan calls for decisive action to stop space travel becoming a battlefield

Pakistan demanded action to stop the weaponization of space after Russia vetoed the Security Council’s draft resolution to end the extraterrestrial arms race. The country claimed that taking this approach would prevent a serious threat to global peace and security.

“In recent years, there has been a significant increase in the dangers to security from space and in space. Ambassador Munir Akram told the UN General Assembly on Monday, “This is evident from the placement of weapons in space and its increasing characterisation as the next war-fighting frontier in the military policies and doctrines of major powers.”

Last month, the 193-member UNGA was discussing Russia’s veto of a draft resolution intended to stop a new interplanetary weapons race in the Security Council.

China abstained, leaving the 15-member Council unable to approve the language that was approved by 13 votes last month due to the negative vote cast by Russia. More than 60 countries co-sponsored the draft resolution, which was presented by the US and Japan.

The US-Japan draft resolution, according to Ambassador Akram’s remarks, correctly recognized that stopping an arms race in space would prevent a serious threat to global peace and security. It also emphasized the significance of the Outer Space Treaty and reaffirmed the Conference on Disarmament, which is based in Geneva, as the only multilateral disarmament negotiation forum.

According to him, Pakistan has consistently upheld the principle that resolutions pertaining to global disarmament issues ought to be discussed and resolved in an open and transparent manner within the relevant forums, such as the UN Disarmament Commission, the Conference on Disarmament (CD), and the First Committee of the UNGA, which addresses disarmament and international security issues.

The Pakistani envoy expressed sadness that more than 40 years have passed with no progress made toward a Treaty to Prevent an Arms Race in Outer Space.

“At first, several people disregarded the idea of a weapons race in space. Then, they urged that non-weaponization methods be prioritized and said that it was too late to stop its militarization. The envoy said, “Now, they want to focus more on behavior than capabilities, ignoring the inherent risks of legitimizing the weaponization of outer space.”

According to Ambassador Akram, Pakistan has been promoting an all-encompassing strategy that places equal emphasis on behavior and capability.

“On Paros (Preventing Arms Race in Outer Space), we have continuously pushed for urgent negotiations on a legally binding instrument.” At the same time, we have made a significant contribution to non-binding policies like Transparency and Confidence-Building Measures (TCBMs).

He did, however, emphasize that TCBMs and other non-binding standards cannot fill the obvious flaws in the international legal system.

The Pakistani envoy expressed regret that some states are still preventing the commencement of legally binding negotiations in the CD on an instrument that forbids the deployment of weapons in space and forbids the threat or use of force against space objects. However, the envoy said that these states have not provided an explanation of how these negotiations would jeopardize their security interests.

“They have also failed to justify why definitional and verification issues cannot be taken up during negotiations – an approach that they advocate for another item in the CD.”

Therefore, Akram hoped that the Security Council’s discussion on the weaponization of space would be forwarded to the CD for additional thought in the framework of talks on a treaty intended to stop an arms race in space.