The Relationship between Space Law and International Humanitarian Law
Zeynep Selin BalcıThere is an important relationship between International Humanitarian Law (IHL) and Space Law, one old and one comparatively new branch of International Law. Considering that wars in space are more likely to take place with the beginning of the space age and technological development, it is obvious that space law alone will not be sufficient. It is now an important necessity to determine the rules of law to be applied in case of a war in which space is either directly or indirectly included as it is currently not possible to provide space security nor disarmament by the outer space law. The non-recognition of the Moon Treaty, a part of space law, and non-compliance with its provisions by major space powers increase the possibility of war in space and this shows the urgency and importance to determine rules for space wars/military space operations. In this context, how possible application of IHL, rules to be applied in war, in military space operations would shape the relationship between IHL and space law should not be left unresolved. The aim of this study is to determine which law is superior and to be applied, by discussing the applicability of IHL in military space operations and looking at the very nature of the relationship between IHL and space law under international law. This study examines the development processes and problems of these two law branches and presents the necessity of applying IHL in military space operations and that IHL is more comprehensive in comparison to space law.
Uzay Hukuku ve Uluslararası İnsancıl Hukuk İlişkisi
Zeynep Selin BalcıUluslararası hukukun biri eski diğeri yeni iki hukuk dalı, uluslararası insancıl hukuk / insancıl hukuk (IHL) ve uzay hukuku, arasında ortaya çıkarılması önemli bir ilişki bulunmaktadır. Uzay çağının başlaması ve teknolojinin gelişmesi ile birlikte gerçekleşme ihtimali de artan uzay savaşları düşünüldüğünde, uzay hukukunun tek başına yeterli olmayacağı ortadadır. Uzay hukukunda uzayın güvenliğinin sağlanması ve silahsızlanmanın tesis edilmesi halihazırda mümkün olmadığı için uzayın dahil veya direk parçası olacağı bir savaş durumunda uygulanması gereken hukuk kurallarının saptanması önemli bir gerekliliktir. Başlıca uzay güçlerinin, uzay hukukunun bir parçası olan Ay Antlaşması’nı tanımaması ve daha da önemlisi, antlaşma hükümlerine uymayan davranışlarda bulunmasının uzayı kapsayacak savaş ihtimalini arttırması da, uzay savaşına / askeri uzay operasyonlarına dair kuralların belirlenmesinin acil ve önemli olduğunu göstermektedir. Bu bağlamda savaş sırasında uygulanması gereken kuralları oluşturan uluslararası insancıl hukukun askeri uzay operasyonlarında uygulanması ihtimalinin, bu iki hukuk dalının ilişkisini nasıl şekillendireceği sorusu da çözümsüz bırakılmamalıdır. Bu çalışmanın amacı da; uluslararası insancıl hukuk normlarının askeri uzay operasyonlarında uygulanıp uygulanamayacağını tartışmak ve aralarındaki ilişkinin uluslararası hukuk kapsamındaki doğasını ortaya çıkararak, askeri uzay operasyonları durumunda hangi hukukun üstün ve uygulanması gereken normları olduğunu tespit etmektir. Bu bağlamda çalışmada, bu iki uluslararası hukuk dalının gelişim süreçleri ve önemli problemleri tartışılmış ve askeri uzay operasyonları durumunda, uluslararası insancıl hukukun uygulanması gerekliliği ve bundan hareketle, iki uluslararası hukuk dalı arasındaki ilişkide uluslararası insancıl hukukun kapsayıcılığı ortaya konmuştur.
International humanitarian law became a fully codified branch international law in the 1970s. The attempts to codify a law of war, or a law for protection of civilians in war which would enhance distinguishing the civilians or non-belligerents, started in 1863 under an initiative led by Henry Dunant. Dunant, a Swiss entrepreneur who had fought in the Battle of Solferino, came back with the urge to protect non-combatants in conflict zones. Dunant, with a team founding the International Committee of the Red Cross, convinced European leaders to convene in Geneva. The 1864 Geneva Convention, signed at the end of the Geneva Conference, was the first multilateral international law document for wounded soldiers in conflict zones. The convention was followed by such treaties as the 1899 Hague Convention on the Laws and Customs of War on Land, the 1906 Geneva Convention on Wounded and Sick, the 1949 Geneva Conventions, and later the 1977 Geneva Conventions Additional Protocols I and II, which merged the two branches of the Geneva and Hague laws. After becoming fully codified, it was to be called International Humanitarian Law.
The other branch of international law, the outer space law/space law, on the other hand, could not follow a similar successful evolutionary process. After the first interaction of human beings with outer space, with the launch of Sputnik I by Soviets, the race in the Cold War gave the signals to move beyond the globe. In the meantime, in order to prevent the abuse of the outer space, the United Nations (UN) was rapid to respond with treaty preparations. The UN founded Space Committee (the Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space/COPUOS) which was ad hoc in the beginning. Through recommendations of COPUOS, UN General Assembly created principles on the use of outer space, though non-binding. The evolution of outer space law, in a multilateral manner, started with the Treaty on Principles Governing the Activities of States in the Exploration and Use of Outer Space, including the Moon and Other Celestial Bodies of 1967, mostly called Outer Space Treaty. Providing the fundamentals of outer space law, the Outer Space Treaty was followed by Rescue Agreement of 1968, Liability Convention of 1972 and Moon Treaty of 1979 while the latter is still not recognized as a genuine part of space law as most space powers are not signatories.
After an overview of different evolutionary processes of two branches of international law, this study aims to reveal the hierarchy amongst them by determining the superior one. In this respect, it evaluated the very nature of their relationship under international law by looking at their development and main problems, separately. Considering International Humanitarian Law to be the older and grounded branch, the study focused on the relatively young branch, Outer Space Law and its problems, namely the issue of disarmament and the unrecognized Moon Treaty.
Apart from the basic definition issues in the outer space law, the disarmament of space has been an ongoing issue of negotiations in the UN. There are two camps of the issue: the space securitists, Russia and China; and the space sustainabilitist, USA. While the first camp was the main provider of first Proposed Prevention of an Arms Race in Space (PAROS) Treaty, their main rival happened to be the US. As the space securitists moved with new proposals, the US stood against them by putting forward that space security by disarmament had secondary importance as the sustainability of space had the first place. Despite the attempts to find a common ground, it still seems to need more time to reconcile.
Another unsolved problem of the outer space law, the non-recognition of the Moon Treaty, became more important after USA’s initiatives discarding the treaty in the beginning of 2020. Although none of the space powers signed the treaty, its requirements could provide peaceful use of Moon and other celestial bodies. Nevertheless, the signatory states’ relative space power is not sufficient to put those requirements into effect. USA’s executive order in April 2020 for cooperation on source-mining on the Moon and later, the declaration of preparing a special treaty for it, called Artemis Accords, seem to endanger the future conclusions of the treaty once and for all.
After providing the vulnerabilities of the outer space law, three principles of IHL, namely distinction, proportionality and discreetness, were examined to apply in wars on space and it was shown that all these principles need to be applied despite its conflictual natures with the outer space law. Although all humankind is to be protected in the outer space, IHL principles such as distinguishing the possibility of giving harm, using limited force and refraining unnecessary harm to the surrounding objects as this could also endanger the life on earth, still need to be applied. In this sense, the conclusion of the study showed the superiority of the International Humanitarian Law when there is a war-like situation in outer space, which approves that IHL prevails over the outer space law.
