ABOUT THIS EVENT
After nearly 60 years, the Outer Space Treaty continues to hold one of the only explicit arms-control provisions for space in international law: Article IV prohibits the placement in orbit of nuclear weapons or other weapons of mass destruction.
Today, however, there is a growing probability that conflict will emerge in space with conventional weapons, potentially in destructive or catastrophic ways. Will the Outer Space Treaty be sufficient to prevent conflict in space? Will the absence of greater prohibitions lead to the placement of conventional weapons in orbit? What paths are available to prevent the degradation of space through war?
You can attend to the Round Table via Zoom and Youtube, a link will soon be published.
MODERATOR
Daniel Porras is the Director of Strategic Partnerships and Communications at the Secure World Foundation. Previously, Mr. Porras was the Space Security Fellow at the UN Institute for Disarmament Research, where he focused on political and legal issues surrounding space security. His main focus has been on the progressive development of sustainable norms of behavior for space activities. Mr. Porras conducted research on the emergence of new technologies and approaches to strategic stability in outer space. He was the resident technical expert for multiple UN bodies working on space security issues, including the Group of Governmental Experts on the Prevention of an Arms Race in Outer Space. Mr. Porras’ areas of expertise include international space law and policy, emerging technology threats, international law, and political science.
PANELISTS
Andrei Belousov
Andrei Belousov is Deputy Permanent Representative of the Russian Federation to the UN in Geneva. Mr Belousov has been Head of the Multilateral Disarmament Division, Department for Nonproliferation and Arms Control, of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation since 2013. Mr Belousov deals with matters pertaining to the prevention of an arms race in outer space, BTWC, CCW, and UN multilateral disarmament machinery. He regularly participates as an expert in the work of Russian inter-agency delegations at various multilateral disarmament fora, and has been a permanent member of the Russian delegation in the UNGA First Committee since 2012. Mr Belousov also participated in the open-ended consultations on the draft International Code of Conduct for Outer Space Activities. He was a member of the Russian delegation that assisted the Russian governmental expert in the UN GGE on TCBMs. Mr Belousov served on various posts in the Division for Military-Political Issues in Russia-U.S. Relations of the North America Department, Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation, where he dealt with nuclear disarmament and non-proliferation issues, as well as with strategic stability issues in the Russia-U.S. relations.
Carine Claeys
Carine Claeys is the EU Special Envoy for Space in the European External Action Service (EEAS) since July 2019. She is Head of the EEAS Space Task Force since 2015 and headed the Security of the EU Space Tools Cell of the EU Joint Situation Centre from 2005 to 2011. She has been a multilateral diplomat in the general Secretariat of the Council and in the EEAS since 1992, where she dealt with issues such as energy, drugs, terrorism, United Nations, public international law, agriculture, enlargement, transport…
Carine Claeys holds a PhD in political sciences, a Master degree in business engineering, a Master degree in international relations and a Master degree in development cooperation.
Patricia Lewis
Dr Patricia Lewis leads the International Security programme at Chatham House.
Previously she served as deputy director and scientist-in-residence at the Center for Nonproliferation Studies at the former Monterey Institute of International Studies; director of the UN Institute for Disarmament Research; and director of the Verification Research, Training and Information Centre in London.
Paul Meyer
Paul Meyer is Fellow in International Security and Adjunct Professor of International Studies at Simon Fraser University, and a Senior Advisor to ICT4Peace. He has served as Chair of the Canadian Pugwash Group since 2017. Prior to taking up his current positions in 2011, Mr. Meyer had a 35-year career with the Canadian Foreign Service, with a specialization in international security policy. His diplomatic postings included serving as Canada’s Ambassador and Permanent Representative to the United Nations and to the Conference on Disarmament in Geneva (2003-2007). He currently teaches an undergraduate course on diplomacy at SFU and writes on issues of nuclear non-proliferation and disarmament, outer space security and international cyber security diplomacy.
The Space Court Foundation is a 501(c)(3) educational nonprofit corporation that promotes and supports space law and policy education and the rule of law. The Space Court Foundation produces educational materials and scholarship through the administration of two major projects: Stellar Decisis and the Space Court Law Library Project. The Foundation engages in partnerships and collaborations that help grow greater awareness of space law and how disputes in space may be resolved as humans venture further from Earth in the not too distant future.
