SIDE-EVENT IN THE MARGINS OF THE UNGA FIRST COMMITTEE

22 October 2024

CR.8, UNHQ, New York

This side-event is organised FRS, as implementing Agency of the EU project in support of the Hague Code of Conduct against Ballistic Missile Proliferation (HCoC) in the margins of the UNGA First Committee. The EU project is implemented according to the EU Council Decision Council Decision (CFSP) 2017/2370.

The Hague Code of Conduct against Ballistic Missile Proliferation (HCoC) is known for inviting states to display transparency in ballistic missile programmes and launches in order to avoid misunderstanding and miscalculation. However, because of the technological proximity between ballistic missiles and space launch vehicles, it also requires states to be transparent about launchers and launches.

This side event will explore the role played by the Code in the space domain and how it contributes to confidence in launching activities. It will also evoke the evolution seen in space and assess to what extent other initiatives could play a stabilizing role in space activities.

AGENDA

13:15 – Introduction 

  • Marjolijn VAN DEELEN, Special Envoy for Space, European External Action Service (EEAS), European Union (remotely)
  • Alex WETZIG, Permament Representative of Chile to the United Nations in Vienna, Chile (Chair of the HCoC 2024-2025)
 
 

13:30 – Main session 

MODERATOR: Dr Xavier PASCO, Secretary General, Foundation for Strategic Research (FRS) 

PANELLISTS:  

  • Dr Peter MARTINEZ, Executive Director, Secure World Foundation (SWF)
  • Dr Raji Pillai RAJAGOPALAN, Resident Senior Fellow, Australian Strategic Policy Institute (ASPI)
  • Ms Almudena AZCÁRATE ORTEGA, Space Security Researcher, United Nations Institute for Disarmament Research (UNIDIR)
Issue Briefs

The HCoC at Twenty

Since its inception and through the collective outreach efforts of its Chairs, the Executive Secretariat, the EU and the United Nations, the Hague Code of Conduct has received growing support. It has improved its efficiency and implementation through a series of initiatives which have made it more easily accessible.

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Research Papers

The HCoC: current challenges and future possibilities

The Hague Code of Conduct (HCoC), currently the only game in town on its topic, marked its 10th anniversary in 2012. It has generated membership comfortably into three figures, and its supporters have tried valiantly to help it make progress. However, even its most enthusiastic admirers would concede that has not fulfilled the hopes and expectations of its founders when they gathered for the opening ceremony in November 2002.

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Research Papers

The use of the existing WMD free zones as an exemple and a potential Framework for further initiatives banning ballistic missiles

Taken as a wide-ranging notion, weapons of mass destruction (WMD) have not produced significant instruments in international security over time, UNSCR1540 being an exception. As such, there are no existing WMD free zones (WMDFZ) which can be used as examples and as potential frameworks for further initiatives banning ballistic missiles.

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