Topic: Peaceful Use of Outer Space
Country: Argentina
Delegate Name: Blythe Bugg
School: Mattawan High School
Topic page: background guide and all position papers All Argentina position papers GLIMUN 2010 committees
In 1958, the UN established the UN Office for Outer Space Affairs to encourage peaceful exploration of space and oppose the militarization of outer space. In the years before, Russia and the United States began a heated competition to see who would control overall space authority. Although the United States and Russia continue to battle in this race, many more competitors have been added in the years following.
Although Argentina has peaceful relations with certain nations in the space race, the Argentine Republic is apprehensive about the accessibility of weaponry available to nations with dangerous intentions, such as North Korea. Argentina signed the Outer Space Treaty in 1967 and ratified it in 1969, showing its approval of peacefulness in an area uninhabited by man and knowing the consequences if such threatening weaponry existed in space. Argentina believes that space should remain peaceful and hopes to never witness an outer space arms race between nations.
Argentina was the first South American country to develop a spaceflight group, but has a decree that was enacted in 1991 by President Carlos Menem, which, according to the conditions of the decree, “rejects any offensive military utilization of space activities.” It also deactivated the National Commission for Space Investigation. Unlike the United States’ views and just like General Assembly Resolution 2222, the Argentine Republic wishes to remove belligerent military use from outer space and replace it with nonviolent exploration. Even though certain countries believe that there is a need for weapons in space for defensive purposes, Argentina strongly believes that if space does not contain any sort of weapons, there is no need for defensive arms when there is nothing to defend from.
