Article

Towards minimum international human rights and humanitarian law standards in activities related to outer space : moving from grim start to more promising future on the final frontier

by Michael H. Hoffman

• Israel yearbook on human rights, Vol. 46, 2016, p. 305-329

English

Astronautics and aerospace medicine owe much of their start to war crimes and crimes against humanity. Some perpetrators faced trial after World War II, but memory of those particular crimes was quickly brushed aside and forgotten in the early rush to reach outer space. Those crimes serve as warnings of potential worst case outcomes for humanity in outer space. And now, high stakes human rights and humanitarian law issues present emerging practical challenges for astronautics and aerospace medicine. Addressing these challenges, the author argues that it is now time to develop a minimum international human rights and humanitarian law standards to protect human life in outer space, and prevent the leveraging of space technologies to commit war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide here on Earth.

• Full text : restricted access (ICRC)

• Israel yearbook on human rights / publ. under the auspices of the Faculty of Law, Tel Aviv University
• Israel yearbook on human rights [Vol. 46, 2016] / publ. under the auspices of the Faculty of Law, Tel Aviv University