New York, 13 October 2016. At the General Debate on Agenda item “International cooperation in the peaceful uses of outer space”, Ambassador Humberto Rivero Rosario at the Fourth Committee, reaffirmed today Cuba’s position regarding the militarization of the outer space as one of the major threats to the future of human species and he called upon the international community to prevent outer space from becoming the next target of the arms race.
The Ambassador considered that the Conference on Disarmament, the only multilateral forum to negotiate disarmament issues, should play a major role in creating an international instrument to prevent the militarization of outer space.
As part of his statement, he reiterated Cuba’s concerns on the geostationary orbit’s clear danger of saturation, a limited natural resource;space debris and the collision of space objects with such debris, as well as, the dense spy satellite network existing in space, created by some nations with the aim of obtaining information to the detriment of other nations and not for the benefit of humanity.
At this forum, he noted that despite the economic hardships mainly as a result of the cruel economic, commercial and financial Embargo imposed against our country, Cuba attaches growing importance to space sciences and their applications. In this sense, he stated the emphasis Cuba places on the prevention of disasters such as cyclones, flooding, penetrations of the sea and forest fires, as well as to the studies of hazard, vulnerability and risk (PVR), among others. Accordingly, he highlighted the importance attached by our country to the Early Warning Systems for Disasters, particularly in addressing hurricanes, which have become increasingly frequent and gained intensity. Such experiences have been shared with other countries in the region.
At the end of his statement he considered: “All States have the right to explore and use outer space for peaceful purposes. However, nowadays exercising such right is an illusion for most developing countries. Therefore, there is a pressing need for bilateral and multilateral cooperation, exchange of information, capacity building and transfer of technologies. In this regard, we emphasize the role of the United Nations and COPUOS in fostering cooperation, especially on important areas of climate change, of food security, the management of natural resources, particularly water, the management of environmental resources and the mitigation of their impact, among others.” (Permanent Mission of Cuba to the United Nations)