Working Paper 1.1

Working Paper 1.1
Sponsors: Belgium, Canada, Japan, the United States of America

Signatories: Afghanistan, Brazil, Guatemala, Haiti, Iceland, India, Netherlands, Norway, Philippines, Poland, Romania, Somalia, Switzerland
Topic: Russian Astronauts Trapped In International Space Station

The Special Political and Decolonization Committee:


Recognizing the dire situation and immediate danger that the Russian astronauts are currently in,

Emphasizes the importance of the nation responsible for this crisis solving the situation,

Having taken note that international participation of all nations in resolving this crisis remains unlikely, as many nations do not play a significant role in outer space,

Reminding all nations that the People’s Republic of China has never been a part in the International Space Station, and that relying on their technology to resolve this issue would not be the most efficient way forward,

Encourages direct members of the ISS to participate in ISS’s welfare
Questions China’s true motives


Stresses the importance of placing human life above all else;


1.Encourages all nations to participate in the safe return of the Russian Astronauts by signing a resolution paper,

2. Strongly urges the United States of America, Japan and Canada to become the main members that will launch the rockets into outer space,

3. Calls upon the Russian Federation to agree with the following conditions;
a) the Russian Federation will fund the majority of the rescue mission, since they are the ones responsible for the issue in the first place
b) the Russian Federation will release information as to exactly why they were testing missiles at the International Space Station, thereby becoming more transparent

4. Solemnly affirms the safe verified return of the astronauts should the conditions be met

5. Requests the immediate evaluation of the missiles onboard the ISS
a) Calls upon the United States of America to immediately monitor the activity of these missiles to ensure that no treaties are violated;
b) Ensures the missiles are simply prototypes and not meant as a means of offensive action;

6.Strongly condemns any nation sending weapons to the ISS through any means.

SPECPOL_USA wrote:Working Paper 1.1

2. Strongly urges the United States of America, Japan and Canada to become the main members that will launch the rockets into outer space,

3. Calls upon the Russian Federation to agree with the following conditions;
a) the Russian Federation will fund the majority of the rescue mission, since they are the  ones responsible for the issue in the first place

5. Requests the immediate evaluation of the missiles onboard the ISS
a) Calls upon the United States of America to immediately monitor the activity of these missiles to ensure that no treaties are violated;

These clauses, which make up the majority of your working paper's action, have nothing backing them.

Clause 2: These states have absolutely no space shuttle capabilities. Japan and Canada never had any, and the USA discontinued its space shuttle program back in 2011, so they don't have anything available. This paper makes absolutely no sense as you have no actual way of getting onto the ISS despite your claims, which makes this resolution unable to work from the get-go. The simple fact is, you have absolutely no way of accessing the ISS, as the Chinese Shenzhou is the only spacecraft available. These are simple facts the delegate of Lithuania expected the sponsors to make themselves aware of.

Clause 3a: Even if you got shuttles, the Russian Federation has absolutely no intentions to fund these countries, and you don't have any way to enforce them to do so. Even if this resolution paper were to pass, you have absolutely no funding making this paper worthless, as one of your clauses has not even been justified.

Clause 5a: As Afghanistan has brought up, there is no justification as to why ONLY the USA gets to monitor the missile mission, as it affects us all. Using the UN Outer Space Association Agency is much more justified.

This resolution is simply much too flawed compared to Working Paper 1.0, and there is no reason for this paper to pass over the former.

China cannot agree with clause 6 because it does not want any mentions of limitating weapon possession in space.

Wouldn't the amended version of Clause 6 be ineffective considering U.S.A, Canada, Japan and Belgium's participation in the Outer Space Treaty, which states in Article V that, "States shall not place nuclear weapons or other weapons of mass destruction in orbit or on celestial bodies or station them in outer space in any other manner"?

The delegation of Greece agrees with the delegation of Lithuania that right now, in fact, this working paper is flawed in some ways, for example in the lack of a space shuttle to mount a rescue mission. perhaps this working paper can be amended to request financial aid from NGOs as well as privately owned organizations to provide space shuttles.