COPUOS Briefing Book
The COPUOS Briefing Book
Secure World Foundation is proud to present our latest publication: the COPUOS Briefing Book. The COPUOS Briefing Book is meant to support delegates and other interested parties who are new to the Committee and its important work. It is our hope that this document will foster and facilitate constructive participation at COPUOS and thereby further solidify and reaffirm this Committee as the central multilateral forum for space diplomacy in the years and decades ahead.
The COPUOS Briefing Book is meant to be a practical guide to understanding what happens here. The first chapter covers this Committee, including its history, placement in the UN System, membership, leadership, agenda development, major deliverables and outcomes, schedule of work, important concepts such as consensus, the rules of procedure, documentation, the structure of reports, and the support from the United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs. Subsequent chapters detail the work of the Scientific and Technical Subcommittee, the Legal Subcommittee, and the role of Working Groups within COPUOS. The publication is scholarly but is intended as a practical resource with useful information on COPUOS.
The COPUOS Briefing Book is a publication of the Secure World Foundation and expertly researched and drafted by Mr. Michael Friedl, who served as a visiting scholar with us on this project at our Washington, DC office in the summer of 2022.