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UNITED                                                                      

NATIONS





                         General Assembly





                                                      Distr.

                                                      GENERAL



                                                      A/RES/50/69

                                                      9 January 1996





Fiftieth session

Agenda item 69





                  RESOLUTION ADOPTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY



               [on the report of the First Committee (A/50/589)]





              50/69.   Prevention of an arms race in outer space





      The General Assembly,



      Recognizing the common interest of all mankind in the exploration

and use of outer space for peaceful purposes,



      Reaffirming the will of all States that the exploration and use

of outer space, including the Moon and other celestial bodies, shall

be for peaceful purposes, shall be carried out for the benefit and in

the interest of all countries, irrespective of their degree of

economic or scientific development, and shall be the province of all

mankind,



      Reaffirming also provisions of articles III and IV of the Treaty

on Principles Governing the Activities of States in the Exploration

and Use of Outer Space, including the Moon and Other Celestial Bodies, 1/



      Recalling the obligation of all States to observe the provisions

of the Charter of the United Nations regarding the use or threat of

use of force in their international relations, including in their

space activities,



      Reaffirming further paragraph 80 of the Final Document of the

Tenth Special Session of the General Assembly,  2/ in which it is

stated that in order to prevent an arms race in outer space further

measures should be taken and appropriate international negotiations

held in accordance with the spirit of the Treaty,



      Recalling also its previous resolutions on this issue and taking

note of the proposals submitted to the General Assembly at its tenth

special session and at its regular sessions, and of the

recommendations made to the competent organs of the United Nations and

to the Conference on Disarmament,



      Recognizing the grave danger for international peace and security

of an arms race in outer space and of developments contributing to it,



      Emphasizing the paramount importance of strict compliance with

existing arms limitation and disarmament agreements relevant to outer

space, including bilateral agreements, and with the existing legal

regime concerning the use of outer space,



      Considering that wide participation in the legal regime

applicable to outer space could contribute to enhancing its

effectiveness,



      Noting that bilateral negotiations, begun in 1985 between the

Union of Soviet Socialist Republics and the United States of America,

were conducted with the declared objective of working out effective

agreements aimed, inter alia, at preventing an arms race in outer

space,



      Welcoming the re-establishment of the Ad Hoc Committee on the

Prevention of an Arms Race in Outer Space at the 1994 session of the

Conference on Disarmament, in the exercise of the negotiating

responsibilities of this sole multilateral body on disarmament, to

continue to examine and identify, through substantive and general

consideration, issues relevant to the prevention of an arms race in

outer space,



      Noting that the Ad Hoc Committee on the Prevention of an Arms

Race in Outer Space, taking into account its previous efforts since

its establishment in 1985 and seeking to enhance its functioning in

qualitative terms, continued the examination and identification of

various issues, existing agreements and existing proposals, as well as

future initiatives relevant to the prevention of an arms race in outer

space,  3/ and that this contributed to a better understanding of

a number of problems and to a clearer perception of the various

positions,



      Regretting the inability of the Conference on Disarmament to

re-establish the Ad Hoc Committee on the Prevention of an Arms Race in

Outer Space in 1995,



      Emphasizing the mutually complementary nature of bilateral and

multilateral efforts in the field of preventing an arms race in outer

space, and hoping that concrete results will emerge from those efforts

as soon as possible,



      Convinced that further measures should be examined in the search

for effective and verifiable bilateral and multilateral agreements in

order to prevent an arms race in outer space,



      Stressing that the growing use of outer space increases the need

for greater transparency and better information on the part of the

international community,



      Recalling in this context its previous resolutions, in particular

resolutions 45/55 B of 4 December 1990, 47/51 of 9 December 1992 and

48/74 A of 16 December 1993, in which, inter alia, it reaffirmed the

importance of confidence-building measures as means conducive to

ensuring the attainment of the objective of the prevention of an arms

race in outer space,



      Conscious of the benefits of confidence- and security-building

measures in the military field,



      Recognizing that there has been agreement in the Ad Hoc Committee

that the conclusion of an international agreement or agreements to

prevent an arms race in outer space remained the fundamental task of

the Committee and that the concrete proposals on confidence-building

measures could form an integral part of such agreements,



      1.    Reaffirms the importance and urgency of preventing an arms

race in outer space and the readiness of all States to contribute to

that common objective, in conformity with the provisions of the Treaty

on Principles Governing the Activities of States in the Exploration

and Use of Outer Space, including the Moon and Other Celestial Bodies; 1/



      2.    Reaffirms its recognition, as stated in the report of the Ad

Hoc Committee on the Prevention of an Arms Race in Outer Space, that

the legal regime applicable to outer space by itself does not

guarantee the prevention of an arms race in outer space, that this

legal regime plays a significant role in the prevention of an arms

race in that environment, that there is a need to consolidate and

reinforce that regime and enhance its effectiveness, and that it is

important strictly to comply with existing agreements, both bilateral

and multilateral;



      3.    Emphasizes the necessity of further measures with

appropriate and effective provisions for verification to prevent an

arms race in outer space;



      4.    Calls upon all States, in particular those with major space

capabilities, to contribute actively to the objective of the peaceful

use of outer space and of the prevention of an arms race in outer

space and to refrain from actions contrary to that objective and to

the relevant existing treaties in the interest of maintaining

international peace and security and promoting international

cooperation;



      5.    Reiterates that the Conference on Disarmament, as the single

multilateral disarmament negotiating forum, has the primary role in

the negotiation of a multilateral agreement or agreements, as

appropriate, on the prevention of an arms race in outer space in all

its aspects;



      6.    Requests the Conference on Disarmament to re-establish the

Ad Hoc Committee on the Prevention of an Arms Race in Outer Space in

1996 and to consider the question of preventing an arms race in outer

space;



      7.    Also requests the Conference on Disarmament to intensify its

consideration of the question of the prevention of an arms race in

outer space in all its aspects, building upon areas of convergence and

taking into account relevant proposals and initiatives, including

those presented in the Ad Hoc Committee at the 1994 session of the

Conference and at the forty-ninth and fiftieth sessions of the General

Assembly;



      8.    Further requests the Conference on Disarmament to

re-establish an ad hoc committee with an adequate mandate at the

beginning of its 1996 session and to continue building upon areas of

convergence, taking into account the work undertaken since 1985, with

a view to undertaking negotiations for the conclusion of an agreement

or agreements, as appropriate, to prevent an arms race in outer space

in all its aspects;



      9.    Recognizes, in this respect, the growing convergence of

views on the elaboration of measures designed to strengthen

transparency, confidence and security in the peaceful uses of outer

space;



      10.   Urges the Russian Federation and the United States of

America to resume their bilateral negotiations with a view to reaching

early agreement for preventing an arms race in outer space and to

advise the Conference on Disarmament periodically of the progress of

their bilateral sessions so as to facilitate its work;



      11.   Decides to include in the provisional agenda of its fifty-

first session the item entitled "Prevention of an arms race in outer

space".



                                                          90th plenary meeting

                                                              12 December 1995





                                     Notes



1/   Resolution 2222 (XXI), annex.



2/   Resolution S-10/2.



3/   Official Records of the General Assembly, Forty-ninth Session,

Supplement No. 27 (A/49/27), sect. III.D (para. 5 of the quoted text).





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