PROGRAMMES AND ACTIVITIES OF THE UNITED NATIONS OFFICE FOR OUTER SPACE AFFAIRS

摘要

The United Nations Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space (COPUOS) was established as an ad hoc Committee of the United Nations General Assembly in 1958 in reaction to the launch of Sputnik I in October 1957. Confirmed by the General Assembly as a permanent body in 1959, it continues to be the primary forum of the United Nations for inter-governmental discussions on the peaceful uses of outer space. To support the work of COPUOS and its subcommittees, the United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs (UNOOSA) was established. Its main task is to help with the implementation of decisions of the Committee and the General Assembly concerning a wide range of space-related activities. The recommendations made at the three United Nations Conferences on the Exploration and Peaceful Uses of Outer Space (UNISPACE), held in 1968, 1982 and 1999, are guiding the Office in its mandates to assist developing countries with strengthening their capacity in using space science, technology and its applications and to promote the implementation of and adherence to international space law. In addition UNOOSA is also acting as the secretariat for the United Nations Inter-agency Meeting on Outer Space Activities which coordinates the space-related activities of the various entities in the United Nations system. The evolution and continuing growth in the importance of space activities for human society ensure that the work of UNOOSA remains relevant more than half a century after the launch of the first artificial satellite.