Anti-Space Weaponry Act of 2020

[Kingdom of Reitzmag]

Anti-Space Weaponry Act

Proposed by Coun. Friedrich van Allen (Reitzmag)

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PREAMBLE

We, the European Union member-states represented in the European Council
Dedicated to establish a safe European populace and protect the lives of the European peoples
Do promulgate this act that would preserve the civilization from extinction and prevent war

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SECTION I. DEFINITIONS

I. Weapons are defined as any element or object that is intentionally designed to, and with the express purpose to can harm or cause destruction to either persons or property.
II. Celestial Body is defined as any natural body outside of the Earth's atmosphere.
III. Spacecraft is defined as a man-made body, which may be manned or unmanned, designed to operate past an altitude of 100 kilometres above Earth.

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SECTION II. REGULATIONS

I. Any nation with or without a space program may not install any armed spacecraft or weaponry in orbit around Earth, the moon, or any other celestial body.
II. The moon and other celestial bodies shall be used by all member-states exclusively for peaceful purposes.
III. The establishment of military bases, installations and fortifications, the testing of any type of weapons , except as allowed by European law, and the conduct of military manoeuvres on celestial bodies shall be forbidden.
IV. The use of military personnel for scientific research or for any other peaceful purposes shall not be prohibited.
V. The use of any equipment or facility necessary for peaceful exploration of the moon and other celestial bodies shall also not be prohibited.

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SECTION III. ENFORCEMENT

I. All member states of the European Union are required to harmonize their national law(s) with this Act in 12 months of time from its approval by the European Council.
II. Member-states of the European Union with a deployed armed spacecraft or weaponry in space are required to develop a plan to either dearm, safely orbit, or decommission in some capacity all spacecraft prhobited by this act within twelve months. This plan shall be submitted to the Director of the ESA, but shall not require the explicit approval of the ESA Director. European Union member-states shall have five years to comply with the removal of all prohibited spacecraft, the use of any prohibited spacecraft in the meantime shall be considered a punishable offense.
III. Breaches of this Act shall be considered a punishable offense in member states. Failure of member states to enforce this Act may be tried in the European Court of Justice.

[Inimicus]

"Hang on, first the war crimes, now space weapons? But what about the Artabanator? Yes, yes, I can arrange to have your face projected on the skies alongisde mine, Augustus. Fine. Well, that's if this thing doesn't pass." Sir Augustus ended his phone conversation, hurried into the Council chamber, and began his speech.

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"I thank the Cllr from Reitzmag for his undoubtedly candid and well-intentioned proposal to this estimable body. I was almost about to say that Reitzmag appears to have peace at the heart of its national ideals, before realising the treaties the Reitzmag government appears to be fully content to sign with rogue administrations like the USNR, but let's not get bogged down in that again. The Imperial Government has been developing space-based weapons for several years now, with the final aim of keeping the Inimician People and the region safe from whoever might do them harm. Before the Great Peace of 2016-2020, the Imperial Nuclear Authority, in conjunction with the Imperial Armed Forces, successfully tested a standard Inimician nuclear weapon in space, marking the start of the permanent Inimician military presence in our earth's orbit.

"We will not have these weapons taken away from us. These installations allow us to protect our citizens and our allies in this region. Inimician intelligence is shared far and wide; our military space programme is the envy of the surrounding area. I simply do not see why the exploration of space for defence means is such a bad thing - perhaps Cllr Van Allen would care to elaborate on this point.

"Now, turning to the specific Act in front of us today. The wording of this Act is just generally... well.... 'awful' would be a strong word. 'Odd' might fit my purposes more. Beginning every sub-section with 'whereas' is completely unnecessary and confusing. I furthermore have some specific points to address with Cllr Van Allen. S.II (VI) is also much too broad: there is no mention of a military intent of the 'highly explosive' substances Cllr Van Allen writes about - what if these materials are meant for civilian purposes, say, deep-space mining? This needs an addition.

"SII (V) is, in my opinion, a massive loophole, and should this Act be passed - heaven forbid - the Empire will aim to exploit it. What's to prevent nations from sending military-grade equipment into space, ostensibly with peaceful purposes, as is allowed by this Act, but really with secret military purposes which, according to most national military secrets laws, do not have to be disclosed? It defeats the entire purpose of Cllr Van Allen's act, and on the other hand, if it is scrapped, the peaceful exploration of space using anything other than flying washing machines and bathtubs becomes nigh impossible. It's a walking contradition, and an insoluable one at that.

"I would ask ask for clarification on S.II(IV) - does Cllr Van Allen specifically mean the use of military personnel for research in space? If so, he needs to amend this section. Furthermore, asking nations to 'detonate' (S.III(II)) all their space weaponry within 3 months of the passage of this act is, furthermore, complete lunacy, and at the very least I would ask for an amendment to compensate these nations for the loss they incur against their will.

"Colleagues, for fear of taking up too much more of your time, I will conclude here. As you will have heard, not only does the Imperial Government have several severe objections to this Act on principle, there are also countless practical problems with the wording and intent of the Act that makes it utterly unpassable to us. We will not vote for it, and I hope my speech has managed to convince some of you to think the same way."

Cllr Augustus Barrington
Empire of Inimicus

[Vayinaod]

"I am very much for an act that works towards establishing space as a site for common heritage of all mankind. Space should only be used for non-violent activities, that is to say things like reconnainse done by satellites should be allowed while harboring various types of weaponry which benefit from being deployed in space should not.

I agree with Cllr. Barrington of many points regarding the wording of this act, specifically I take issue with S.2.VI due to the fact the current wording bans peaceful use of nuclear material such as 'Radioisotope thermoelectric generators' used for long duration space probes. Vayinaod and Fremet's new spaceprobe

Being also quite honest, this would also ban testing of nuclear weapons in space which I would prefer to allow. Testing nuclear weapons in space is more preferably than earthquakes from subterranean testing. I would prefer to drop this part of the act entirely unless it is clarified far more to reflect my requests.

Also, may I speak to the absolute sheer destruction the proposals here contains? Kessler Syndrome would no doubt fill the skies above Earth from god knows how many pieces of equipment this act may end up banning. Vayinaod will strongly encourage all states to not follow this act in this clause, it needs to be admitted to reflect safe deorbital procedures over unihabited areas, or push to sufficient orbit to escape Earth's gravity well. Any of these options would take years of planning and funding to acchomplish, and this needs to be reflected in the act.

This will likely need at least two years to be fully realized.

This needs a lot of work, but I love the idea and will try to draft some amendments to get it on the right path. Space should not be a war front."

Carita Falk
Archrepublic of Vayinaod

[Pravoslaviya]

I'd like to start by saying that every instance of the word 'whereas' should be removed from this bill, and if necessary, I'll submit amendments to clean up the language of the bill to that effect. I also believe the preamble should be amended since, quite frankly, I do not believe that this bill will preserve civilisation from extinction.

Otherwise, I agree with Cllr Falk in that the principles behind this bill are sound; and I agree with both herself and Cllr Barrington in that this bill needs extensive rewording to make it effective and prevent any serious unintended consequences.

Cllr Tupac Shakur

[Kingdom of Reitzmag]

I very much appreciate to hear the opinions of my colleagues and I am pleased to see how they agree with the idea of preserving space as a common heritage of all mankind. I agree that I have noticed some mishaps in my proposals and I hope it would be amended accordingly.

Now, the honorable gentleman from Inimicus had mentioned the oddity of this act and I suppose that I have also realized such. He had also mentioned that S-II.VI is broad but I'd like to explain the purpose of this clause.

The use of nuclear material as fuel based on studies conducted by the KRSA is very dangerous and harmful due to the massive release of nuclear waste. And in case of an explosion during flight, the spacecraft would be something like a nuclear bomb exploding in mid-air or in space. Though, I agree that the phrase 'highly explosive' should be removed since all fuel used for spacecraft as of now are really explosive.

Certainly, I also have a reason for the wordings in S-II.V. I'd like to point out that military reconnaissance vehicles or satellites are not illegal under that clause. That being said, the phrases there shows that the moon or any other celestial body is free to be explored by any nation with peace and harmony.

Moving on to the clarification he asked for S-II.IV, this just explains that all men whether a member of an armed force shall not be barred from conducting researches in space. It also shows that space is not owned by anyone and is neutral grounds. But, the purpose of these military personnel being sent to space shall only remain for peaceful purposes such as scientific research and meteorological observations.

Lastly, I also would like to tell everyone that I have also realized that the phrases in S-III.II is not properly worded and that I agree that the word 'detonate' shall be removed. I hope those would be included in the amendments.

Friedrich van Allen
Councilor, Kingdom of Reitzmag

[A Former User]

Councillor van Allen, I think you are a bit mistaken on this subject. There is no release of nuclear waste from the usage of nuclear material as fuel; only some radiation, which is entirely contained to the onboard reactor and used to create heat as to generate power. At the same time, the type of nuclear material used for these purposes is not terribly reactive when compared to that of nuclear bombs. Such a thing is necessary, to ensure that it can generate power for an extended period of time rather than releasing it all in an instant, as is with nuclear bombs. In the case that the reaction does go out of control, which sometimes but rarely - very, very, very rarely - happens, there are controls to mitigate it. Despite this, there is no risk of there being a nuclear-bomb like effect in the case of an explosion; none at all.

On the rest, I generally concur with my colleagues.

Martin Bourgaize
Councillor for the People's Confederation of Eastern Haane

[Kingdom of Reitzmag]

I am sorry but I disagree to the honorable gentleman from Eastern Haane. There are numerous reasons why no nation uses nuclear energy to propel spacecrafts. First, radiation is dangerous and if there is any leak in the spacecraft it would kill the astronauts on board and release radiation in the atmosphere. Secondly, all rockets are not 100% successful and reliable and it would really act like a nuclear bomb. Third, nuclear reactors board in rockets are really heavy and would not help propel the rockets further into space. And finally, launches involving nuclear material as fuel would be very costly and thus ineffective. Though, as the honorable lady from Vayinaod suggests,the propulsion system used by the space probes of Vayinaod and Fremet uses a battery called 'Radioisotope thermoelectric generators' which contains nuclear material. These batteries are safe is properly contained since as far as I know, it uses Plutonium which is dangerous if inhaled while powered. And as far as I know, it cannot explode like a nuclear weapon. So, I hope that it would be amended so that use of these RTGs would be allowed but must require approval from the authorities such as the ESA or the ENAA.

Friedrich van Allen
Councilor, Kingdom of Reitzmag

[Inquista]

Debate on this legislation shall remain open until 10:00 GMT on August 9th, 2020.

There's not much that I can add to this debate that hasn't already been stated by either Councillor Barrington or Councillor Falk. At this point, I don't want to dog pile on this piece of legislation either.

Some of my fellow Councillors have given some good advice that should be taken into consideration for the future. Moving forward, decision-makers and legislators from Reitzmag should be encouraged to drop the usage of "whereas" in their texts, as it's both an unnecessary and strange turn of phrase.

In Section I, I'm not sure why the defined words have periods after them. They've now become incomplete sentences.

Both the language and the content of this legislation need to be re-worked in my opinion. Inquista opposes the militarization of space in any form, so I welcome any legislation on the matter... if it is to be re-written.

Edward Firoux
Council Speaker and Councillor for Inquista

[Kingdom of Reitzmag]

Here are the amendments I would like to propose that I see could satisfy this estimable body:

Amendment I:

SECTION I. DEFINITIONS

I. Weapons are defined as any element or object that can harm or cause destruction.
II. Celestial Body is defined as any natural body outside of the Earth's atmosphere.
III. Spacecraft is defined as any man-made body capable and meant to reach space and escape the earth's gravity.

SECTION II. REGULATIONS

I. Whereas, any Any nation with or without a space program may not install any armed spacecraft or weaponry in orbit around Earth, the moon, or any other celestial body.
II. Whereas, the Themoon and other celestial bodies shall be used by all member-states exclusively for peaceful purposes.
III. Whereas, the Theestablishment of military bases, installations and fortifications, the testing of any type of weapons and the conduct of military manoeuvres on celestial bodies shall be forbidden.
IV. Whereas, the The use of military personnel for scientific research or for any other peaceful purposes shall not be prohibited.
V. Whereas, the The use of any equipment or facility necessary for peaceful exploration of the moon and other celestial bodies shall also not be prohibited.
VI. Whereas, any Any object or substance containing highly explosive or nuclear material are prohibited from being sent to space.

SECTION III. ENFORCEMENT

I. All member states of the European Union are required to harmonize their national law(s) with this Act in 5 months of time from its approval by the European Council.
II. Whereas, all All member-states of the European Union with a currently deployed armed spacecraft or weaponry in space are required to ~~detonate/return ~~ disarm them to earth within 3 months after this act is passed in the European Council.
III. Breaches of this Act shall be considered a punishable offense in member states. Failure of member states to enforce this Act may be tried in the European Court of Justice.

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Amendment II:

SECTION I. DEFINITIONS

I. Weapons are defined as any element or object that can harm or cause destruction.
II. Celestial Body is defined as any natural body outside of the Earth's atmosphere.
III. Spacecraft is defined as any man-made body capable and meant to reach space and escape the earth's gravity.

SECTION II. REGULATIONS

I. Whereas, any Any nation with or without a space program may not install any armed spacecraft or weaponry in orbit around Earth, the moon, or any other celestial body.
II. Whereas, the Themoon and other celestial bodies shall be used by all member-states exclusively for peaceful purposes.
III. Whereas, the Theestablishment of military bases, installations and fortifications, the testing of any type of weapons and the conduct of military manoeuvres on celestial bodies shall be forbidden.
IV. Whereas, the The use of military personnel for scientific research or for any other peaceful purposes shall not be prohibited.
V. Whereas, the The use of any equipment or facility necessary for peaceful exploration of the moon and other celestial bodies shall also not be prohibited.
VI. Whereas, any object or substance containing highly explosive or nuclear material are prohibited from being sent to space.

SECTION III. ENFORCEMENT

I. All member states of the European Union are required to harmonize their national law(s) with this Act in 5 months of time from its approval by the European Council.
II. Whereas, all member-states of the European Union with a deployed armed spacecraft or weaponry in space are required to detonate/return them to earth within 3 months after this act is passed in the European Council.
III. II. Breaches of this Act shall be considered a punishable offense in member states. Failure of member states to enforce this Act may be tried in the European Court of Justice.

Friedrich van Allen
Councilor, Kingdom of Reitzmag

[Kingdom of Reitzmag]

I would like to request to Mr. Speaker an extension for the debates.

Friedrich van Allen
Councilor, Kingdom of Reitzmag

[Inquista]

Debate shall be extended until 07:00 GMT on August 12th, 2020.

Edward Firoux
Council Speaker and Councillor for Inquista

[Kingdom of Reitzmag]

Thank you Mr. Speaker, now I hope that the debate extension would help give time to my colleagues to submit their own amendments that I think could be better.

Friedrich van Allen
Councilor, Kingdom of Reitzmag

[Vayinaod]

I have a few amendments, so I thank the Speaker for the time extension.

Amendment 1:

SECTION I. DEFINITIONS
I. Weapons . are defined as any element or object that is intentionally designed to, and with the express purpose to can harm or cause destruction to either persons or property.
II. Celestial Body . is defined as any natural body outside of the Earth's atmosphere.
III. Spacecraft . is defined as any man-made body capable and meant to reach space and escape the earth's gravity. a man-made body, which may be manned or unmanned, designed to operate past an attitulde of 100 kilometres above Earth.

Amendment 2:

SECTION II. REGULATIONS

I. Whereas, any Any nation with or without a space program may not install any armed spacecraft or weaponry in orbit around Earth, the moon, or any other celestial body.
II. Whereas, the The moon and other celestial bodies shall be used by all member-states exclusively for peaceful purposes.
III. Whereas, the The establishment of military bases, installations and fortifications, the testing of any type of weapons , except as allowed by European law, and the conduct of military manoeuvres on celestial bodies shall be forbidden.
IV. Whereas, the The use of military personnel for scientific research or for any other peaceful purposes shall not be prohibited.
V. Whereas, the The use of any equipment or facility necessary for peaceful exploration of the moon and other celestial bodies shall also not be prohibited.
VI. Whereas, any object or substance containing highly explosive or nuclear material are prohibited from being sent to space.

Amendment 3

Section III: Enforcement

I. All member states of the European Union are required to harmonize their national law(s) with this Act in 5 12 months of time from its approval by the European Council.
II. Whereas, all Member-states of the European Union with a deployed armed spacecraft or weaponry in space are required to detonate/return them to earth within 3 months after this act is passed is approved in the European Council. develop a plan to either dearm, safely orbit, or decommission in some capacity all spacecraft prhobited by this act within twelve months. This plan shall be submitted to the Director of the ESA, but shall not require the explicit approval of the ESA Director. European Union member-states shall have five years to comply with the removal of all prohibited spacecraft, the use of any prohibited spacecraft in the meantime shall be considered a punishable offense.
III. Breaches of this Act shall be considered a punishable offense in member states. Failure of member states to enforce this Act may be tried in the European Court of Justice.

[Kingdom of Reitzmag]

As I believe that Coun. Falk had proposed better Amendments than mine, I hereby ask to withdraw my amendments.

Friedrich van Allen
Councilor, Kingdom of Reitzmag

[Spain]

Again another hypocrite move from Reitzmag, as we are used to see in this Council coming from Councillor van Allen. Councillor Barrington said that in another way, but yeah, absolutely he used the right words for this. When you see Reitzmag saying peace is the only solution to this, they could be developing a new treaty with the UNSR or other unrecognised countries that were stablished by Coup d'Etats or revolutions. But I find, as always, some victimhood in Reitzmag and even I'm very used to these kind of attitudes, so, it doesn't surprise me.

This remembers me to the last Commission campaign where Atty. Winston wanted to intervene all of our armies to remove nuclear stuff and things like that, as also doing joint exercises because, as we all know, joint military exercises are the most important priority for the European Union, we don't have any other challenges but the military! I think that if somes really believe this, they have been isolated from the EU during these months. Military is an important thing, of course. But please, let's moderate ourselves on this, we have lots of much important challenges.

I would like to clarify that I'm against any type of space battle, but I can't stand this. Again, if we don't want to be forced of free movement, why would we force countries to de-weaponize the space or just have none of Space Weaponary? I kind of know why this Act has appeared: Because the UNSR launched a missile to a Reitzmic Space Station, so then, we all need to avoid Space Weaponary. But suddenly, we all see how the Reitzmic Government returns money to the UNSR, and we et to know all the hidden steps of the matter, what really made us reach this point.

I will possibly vote against this, just because it will not stop those nations that do not accomplish the European Union regulation, and I see it just another attempt to regulate something Reitzmag suffered because if Reitzmag suffers, we all need to do exactly the same what Reitzmag says, or that is what Councillor van Allen might think.

Donald D. Tusk
Councillor for Spain

[Kingdom of Reitzmag]

Mr. Tusk, are you telling me that you want to destroy the EU? You want to develop space-borne weapons to do what? Attack or scare anyone you hate? Do you really not want peace and unity and spare the lives of the future Europeans who would cherish our successes in Space? The illegitimate government in Icholasen is the biggest threat to us all. If they had done it to us in Reitzmag, they can do it to all of the member-states! And we can prevent that if we pass this act Mr. Tusk.

Friedrich van Allen
Councilor, Kingdom of Reitzmag

[Spain]

Do you really think I'm aiming to destroy the European Union? My god, this is harder than I first thought Cllr. van Allen, and your arguments are just 2 if we don't want to support your proposals: "Do you want to deprieve my country?" or "Do you want to destroy the EU?" It seems that if someone goes against one of your proposals, then "he has to go to hell, there's no way someone can go against me, technically impossible."

And about the Union of Nicoleizian Soviet Republic, mostly known as UNSR, I'm going to say something that has been proven in the past and will always be like that: Rogue states never accomplish the law, and they will never do that. So, passing this to avoid rogue nations to attack us is as silly as saying that we are controlled by someone and we are jailed on a videogame. I'm going against this act, and even if I'm against war, I see this as a silly thing, because it changes nothing. At least, Cllr. Falk has proposed some amendments that make this much better, but still, I'm opposed to this.

Donald D. Tusk
Councillor for Spain

[Inquista]

Debate has now closed. It is time to vote on amendments. Voting on amendments begins NOW and will last until 09:00 GMT on August 16th, 2020.

There are three amendments, all of which are authored by Councillor Falk:

Amendment I
SECTION I. DEFINITIONS
I. Weapons . are defined as any element or object that is intentionally designed to, and with the express purpose to can harm or cause destruction to either persons or property.
II. Celestial Body . is defined as any natural body outside of the Earth's atmosphere.
III. Spacecraft . is defined as any man-made body capable and meant to reach space and escape the earth's gravity. a man-made body, which may be manned or unmanned, designed to operate past an altitude of 100 kilometres above Earth.

Amendment II
SECTION II. REGULATIONS
I. Whereas, any Any nation with or without a space program may not install any armed spacecraft or weaponry in orbit around Earth, the moon, or any other celestial body.
II. Whereas, the The moon and other celestial bodies shall be used by all member-states exclusively for peaceful purposes.
III. Whereas, the The establishment of military bases, installations and fortifications, the testing of any type of weapons , except as allowed by European law, and the conduct of military manoeuvres on celestial bodies shall be forbidden.
IV. Whereas, the The use of military personnel for scientific research or for any other peaceful purposes shall not be prohibited.
V. Whereas, the The use of any equipment or facility necessary for peaceful exploration of the moon and other celestial bodies shall also not be prohibited.
VI. Whereas, any object or substance containing highly explosive or nuclear material are prohibited from being sent to space.

Amendment III
Section III: Enforcement
I. All member states of the European Union are required to harmonize their national law(s) with this Act in 5 12 months of time from its approval by the European Council.
II. Whereas, all Member-states of the European Union with a deployed armed spacecraft or weaponry in space are required to detonate/return them to earth within 3 months after this act is passed is approved in the European Council. develop a plan to either dearm, safely orbit, or decommission in some capacity all spacecraft prhobited by this act within twelve months. This plan shall be submitted to the Director of the ESA, but shall not require the explicit approval of the ESA Director. European Union member-states shall have five years to comply with the removal of all prohibited spacecraft, the use of any prohibited spacecraft in the meantime shall be considered a punishable offense.
III. Breaches of this Act shall be considered a punishable offense in member states. Failure of member states to enforce this Act may be tried in the European Court of Justice.

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I vote FOR all amendments.

Edward Firoux
Council Speaker and Councillor for Inquista

[Kingdom of Reitzmag]

I vote FOR all amendments.

Friedrich van Allen
Councilor, Kingdom of Reitzmag

[Spain]

On behalf of the Kingdom of Spain, I vote FOR all amendments.

Donald D. Tusk
Councillor for Spain