Steps to Get the Treaty in Force

UNDER INTERNATIONAL LAW

Step One: (Individual Signature Track) - U.N. Member State leaders can individually sign the Space Preservation Treaty and immediately deposit it with the U.N. Secretary General as Treaty Depositary, at any time. Concurrently, the Space Preservation Treaty can also be signed by Member States coming together simultaneously in an International Treaty conference. Each signing Member State whether individually or at the Treaty conference - must then ratify the Treaty and deposit instruments of ratification with the U.N. Secretary General. The Space Preservation Treaty will go into force as soon as the first twenty instruments of ratification are received from Member States who have signed the Treaty.

Step Two: An international Treaty Conference for the Space Preservation Treaty shall be convened as soon as possible in a designated location and under sponsorship of an appropriate and willing Member State(s) and of international NGO sponsors to facilitate the process.

Once the Treaty Conference has been called, the Space Preservation Treaty approval process has two stages: Treaty-signing and Treaty ratification (a vote of approval by a Member State's Parliament or Congress). As the 1997 Land Mines Treaty Conference demonstrates, all of these procedures can be accomplished on an expedited basis, once participating Member States have decided to synchronize and commit their policies on banning space-based weapons.

TREATY SIGNING - An authorized representative of a Member State signs the Space Preservation Treaty (e.g. President, Prime Minister, Foreign Minister, Secretary of State). This signed copy is then deposited with the U.N. Secretary General's office as Treaty Depositary.

TREATY RATIFICATION - The Member State also sends a copy of the signed Space Preservation Treaty to its Parliament or Congress for an emergency vote of ratification.


Once the Treaty is ratified by the Member State's Congress or Parliament, a certificate of ratification is also deposited with the U.N. Secretary General's office, as evidence that the Treaty has been signed and ratified.

Step Three: Treaty Enter Into Force - As soon as the first 20 countries have signed and ratified the Space Preservation Treaty, and deposited certificates of ratification with the U.N. Secretary General's office, the Treaty goes into force. This means that all of its provisions become operative under international law, including an outer space peacekeeping agency, which can now be established (Article IV) to monitor and enforce the ban on space-based weapons.

As a practical matter, a Treaty Conference will provide those Member States leaders who have voted for a multi-lateral agreement banning space-based weapons in recent General Assembly resolutions with the time, place and opportunity to sign and ratify the Space Preservation Treaty.

On the public record, most Member States have voted in favor of banning space-based weapons.

Given the margin of approval on actual votes in the U.N. General Assembly, it is possible and feasible to get a worldwide ban on space-based weapons because there exists the political will and consciousness among most world leaders to ban space-based weapons. In addition, this is a win-win situation for all life on earth and in the universe.

The Space Preservation Treaty, in an analogous manner to the 1945 United Nations Charter, creates a new international space Treaty entity an outer space peacekeeping agency comparable to the original United Nations organization. This new Treaty entity - the Outer Space Peacekeeping Agency - has exclusive monitoring and enforcement jurisdiction in outer space to make it possible to achieve a ban on all space-based weapons.