New York, 19 October 2016. “The threat of an arms race in outer space and its militarization increases with the continuing development and improvement of space weapons, the presence of war materials in space such as military satellites, and the absence of a legally binding framework preventing weapons from been deployed in outer space.”, noted Ambassador Rodolfo Benítez Versón Representative of the Cuban Ministry of Foreign Affairs, when addressing the Thematic Debate of the First Committee on “Outer Space”.
The Cuban Ambassador expressed Cuba’s support to the policy of no-first placement of any kinds of weapons in outer space and its full commitment to the prevention of the arms race in outer space. Hence, he pointed out that the necessary actions should be urgently taken to ensure the strictly peaceful use of space for the benefit of the scientific, economic and social development of all States.
On the other hand, he condemned the existing dense spy satellite network that has saturated the geostationary orbit, and generates a significant amount of space debris and advocated the legitimate right of all States to access outer space under equal conditions and without any discrimination; as well as to benefit from cooperation in terms of training and transfer of space applications and technologies.
Within this framework, he highlighted that Cubasupports the adoption of a treaty for the prevention and prohibition of the deployment of weapons in outer space.‘Pending the adoption of said treaty, the implementation of transparent international measures and confidence-building on outer space are convenient and necessary’, he stated.
At the end, the Cuban diplomat emphasized that that the future of space activities and of a stable, peaceful and safe outer space largely relies on the strengthening of the legal regime regulating it.(Permanent Mission of Cuba to the United Nations)