Episode Details

Despite the long-term desire of the international community to explore and use outer space for peaceful purposes, space systems have been employed for military purposes since the dawn of the space era. As the role of these systems in military operations during armed conflicts increases, so too does the likelihood of their being targeted, with significant risk of harm to civilians and civilian objects on earth and in space. This is because technology enabled by space systems permeates most aspects of civilian life, making the potential consequences of attacks on space systems a matter of humanitarian concern. In this post, ICRC Legal Adviser Wen Zhou launches a new series on war, law, and outer space, laying out the potential human cost on civilians of military space operations during armed conflicts, outlining the existing rules regulating and restricting such operations under international law – in particular, international humanitarian law (IHL) – and introducing recommended measures to minimize the risk of civilian harm posed by threats to space systems.