LACUNAE, FLAWS AND INEQUITY IN SPACE LAWFROM THE PERSPECTIVE OF THIRD WORLD COUNTRIES

摘要

This paper is divided into 2 parts. The first one is an overview of how the uses ofrnOuter Space can prosper and vest Space Powers with economic, political and militaryrnsupremacies and how satellites have become an essential component in our daily life.rnIts second part, which is also divided into 2 portions, identifies, in the first one, somernof the lacunae, gray areas and flaws in the existing international Space Law, e.g. lackrnof authoritative criterion for the determination of where airspace ends and OuterrnSpace begins; lack of comprehensive corpus of lex lata dealing with the rapidlyrnaccumulating multitudes of demised satellites and Space debris that jeopardize thernsecurity of the astronauts' life and Man's activities in Outer Space. Its second portionrnsingles out and comments on the inequity for Third World countries in Space Law andrnState practices, e.g. defective regime and inequity for Third World countries in thernallocation of orbital slots and physical access to geo-stationary orbit; the unethical andrnabusive exploitation of data on other countries secured via remote-sensing; and thernrestriction of opportunity for Third World countries to directly participate in thernelaboration of Space Law coupled with recommendations on their remedial measuresrnand rectifications.