The Ambit of the Law of Neutrality and Space Security
- Paper number
IAC-06-E6.4.07
- Author
Mr. Michel Bourbonniere, Department of Justice, Canada, (PWGSC) and Professor of Law at the Royal Military College of Canada, Canada
- Year
2006
- Abstract
Superiority within both the air and space medium are presently considered within American military doctrine to be the crucial first step in the success of any military operation. Although the law of armed conflict structures the legal relationship between belligerents and the civilian population, it is the law of neutrality that structures the legal relationship between belligerent States and non-belligerent States. The importance of the law of neutrality was elaborated upon by the ICJ in its advisory opinion on the legitimacy of nuclear weapons. Space control and the means and methods through which space control can be achieved remain constrained within the legal boundaries established by the international community through both the law of war and the law of neutrality. This paper will examine the origins and effects of the law of neutrality and its application to the US doctrine of space control. The paper will argue that neutral rights and duties in space are a corollary of the theory of space control promoted by US military doctrine. The paper presents two arguments. First, the law of neutrality confers on neutral states protection from belligerent acts such as those either expressed or implied by the doctrine of space control. Second, the international community is presently at a diplomatic stalemate on the question of the weaponization of space. The Conference on Disarmament (CD) is unable to break the diplomatic stalemate, handicapping the UN discussions on the Prevention of an Arms Race in Outer Space (PAROS). The international community has also frequently expressed concern over the weaponization of space. Given the improbability of the development of an effective legal regime to resolve conflicting national priorities concerning the weaponization of space, the law of neutrality remains, if only by default, a primary normative structure in the regulation of the practical effects of space control.
- Abstract document
- Manuscript document
IAC-06-E6.4.07.pdf (🔒 authorized access only).
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