Outer Space Treaty

HL Deb 01 November 1995 vol 566 cc160-1WA

Lord Kennet

asked Her Majesty's Government:

Whether the 1967 Space Treaty gives an undoubted right, to those individual states that are capable of doing so, to conduct unlimited military espionage and target acquisition on other sovereign states, and if so whether they will cite the passages in the treaty text which allow this, in the light of Article 1 of the treaty, which states that "exploration and use of outer space…shall be carried out for the benefit and in the interests of all countries, irrespective of their degree of economic and scientific development, and shall be the province of all mankind".

Baroness Chalker of Wallasey

The Outer Space Treaty does not prohibit the use of satellites for the purposes of military observation. Such use is an accepted part of space activities.