Page 59 - All About Space 68 - 2017 UK

Dr Kubo Mačák

The manual will look
edition of the Tallinn Manual was published earlier
to address what would
this year and it involved an international group of
happen if the crew of
experts and observers from various governments. a space shuttle were
In fact, more than 50 governments submitted their taken hostage
observations on the Tallinn Manual which shows
states really do take such initiatives very seriously.
So the hope is that MILAMOS will also become a key
reference point and that, in this way, it will improve
our understanding of international law in this area.

Will it also focus on the responsibility of
individuals? We know, for example, that you're
looking at whether people who alter satellite
images to make them appear as military objectives
could be seen as war criminals if it leads to an
object later being targeted…
Yes, international law doesn't only apply to
states, some of its rules also apply to individuals.
The prevailing interpretation is the entirety of
international law is in principle applicable to outer
space activities, but how precisely it applies is left
open. The example you have mentioned is a good
illustration of this problem. It is clearly a war crime to
deliberately attack civilians during an armed conflict.
However, a cyber operation against a satellite, which
misleads the adversary and thus results in the death
of civilians, is an entirely new type of situation.
The manual will aspire to bring clarity to such
new situations and in this way, close the currently
existing gap in our understanding of the law.
When will the project be complete?
The project started officially in May 2016 and we have
three meetings each year. Now that the University of
Exeter has formally joined the organising institutions,
we will also host a rule-drafting workshop in 2018.
So we look forward to welcoming all the experts
in Exeter next year and the anticipation is that the
whole project will finish in 2019.

© NASA; JSC; Kenneth Lu

There have actually been several non-binding manuals
in the past, including the Tallinn Manual on the
International Law Applicable to Cyber Operations

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