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The Role of International Non-governmental Organisations (INGOs) in Space Activities and Space Law

In their book “Law and Public Order in Space” in 1963, at the beginning of the space era, McDougal, Lasswell and Vlasic stated quite bravely their vision: “It is not impossible that in the foreseeable future nongovernmental organizations (...) may enter on their own behalf into the field of active space exploration.” There is no doubt that such a statement resulted from the fact that space activities from the beginning have been an overlapping zone between the public (governmental) and private non-governmental) sector, as for a number of years states and private entities have been jointly participating in various space programmes. Given the rise of telecommunications technology and space telecommunications, the role of entities like large companies and multinational corporations in space activities seems to be undisputable. However, we have decided to focus this paper on international non-governmental organisations as non-profit-making private entities, as well as their place and role in the development of space law and space activities in general. Though the authors of the statement at the beginning of this article primarily had in mind scientific INGOs like the International Council of Scientific Unions (ICSU), the Committee on Space Research (COSPAR) or the International Astronautical Federation (IAF), today we are faced with a whole variety of INGOs who have a place in the context of our subject. After all, nowadays, almost half a century later, the entire international community has been interlaced with non-governmental organisations participating in numerous international fields. Sometimes, they propose new solutions to international legislation, but they also participate in the implementation of international standards and legal documents. Space activities and space law today at the beginning of the third millennium seem to be following this development. Adopting by nature an interdisciplinary but also transnational approach, space activities are open to co-operation with all entities—governmental or non-governmental—that are able and willing, and who have the knowledge, to make these activities successful.

international non-governmental organisations, space activities, space law, COPUOS

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