SWF Contributes to the UNIDIR Regional Meeting on "Space Equities: The Role of the Americas in Building Norms of Behaviour"

Tuesday, July 9, 2013

The United Nations Institute for Disarmament Research (UNIDIR) recently organized a regional event titled “Space equities: The role of the Americas in building norms of behaviour”, held on 1 - 2 July 2013 in Mexico City, Mexico.

As society’s reliance on space-based services expands and the number of stakeholders increases, there is a growing need for an increased level of dialogue and cooperation at the multilateral level to address the changing realities of the space environment. With ever increasing regional usage of space services, the Americas, especially Latin America, is driving the global trend of the use of space resources for both national and regional economic and social development. Given this fact, examining what role the region could and/or should play in ensuring the overall stability of the space domain is of critical importance.

In light of several on-going multilateral initiatives focused on norms of behaviour for space activities, UNIDIR’s seminar focused on assessing current trends for space activities in the Americas, their impact on space security and the role that may be played by the region in the development of space norms of behaviour.

Senior Advisor Dr. Ray Williamson made a presentation titled "Appraising the effectiveness of voluntary rules in the space domain: An NGO perspective" and Brussels Office Director Agnieszka Lukaszczyk  made a presentation titled "Increased vulnerability to space security threats: a cost-benefit analysis of growing dependency on space-based services".