Considering Responsible Behaviours as Part of Managing Threats to Space Systems

This short report captures the key points emerging from informal multilateral discussions at Wilton Park, convened on behalf of the UK Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO). This three-day event brought towards governmental representatives from 20 nations including from Central and South America, Africa, Australia and New Zealand, Southern and South-East Asia as well as Europe and North America. Also participating were selected industry, civil society and academic experts in aspects of space technology, security, and law.

The purpose of these discussions was to share perspectives and debate relevant issues ahead of the upcoming United Nations (UN) Open-Ended Working Group (OEWG) on Reducing Space Threats through norms, rules and principles of Responsible Behaviour, which will meet for the first formal session on 9–13 May 2022 in Geneva. While the discussions were conducted under the Chatham House rule, with comments non-attributable to individual participants, this report is intended to summarise the key insights emerging from the discussions.

The report begins with an overview of the background to the Wilton Park event and UN OEWG, before moving to discuss themes from each of the plenary and breakout sessions.

This report is part of the RAND Corporation External publication series. Many RAND studies are published in peer-reviewed scholarly journals, as chapters in commercial books, or as documents published by other organizations.

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