June 2024
IISL at IAU conference
At the conference on “Communicating astronomy with the Public” of the International Astronomical Union (IAU), which was held at the Cité de l’Espace in Toulouse, IISL President Kai-Uwe Schrogl gave a keynote on the policy and legal aspects to deal with light pollution and radiofrequency interference from space objects. The presentation (download below) built on the recent IISL study on this topic (download here) and the co-sponsorship by IISL of the respective UNCOPUOS documents led by the IAU. Please also see the press coverage in La Tribune Toulouse here.
26th Asia-Pacific Regional Round of the Manfred Lachs Space Law Moot Court Competition 2024 Concluded
24 June 2024 — The Asia-Pacific Regional Round happened at Gakushuin University, Tokyo, Japan two years in a row and concluded its 2024 round on 9th June 2024. The Regional Round was supported by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, National Space Policy Secretariat of the Cabinet Office, and Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA), and was sponsored by Anderson Mori & Tomotsune、TMI Associates, Nagashima Ohno & Tsunematsu, Mitsubishi Corporation, Nishimura & Asahi, Mori Hamada & Matsumoto, Astroscale, and Deloitte Tohmatsu Space and Security. It attracted 30 teams from India, China, Japan, Singapore, Malaysia, and Saudi Arabia which participated in its memorial round. Sixteen teams were selected to compete in the oral rounds. Teams competed in the oral round for three preliminary rounds, as well as quarter-final, semi-final, and final rounds. Significantly, the Regional Round retained its first ever participation from the Middle East, Prince Sultan University, which was awarded the Spirit of Lachs award, a special award of the Region for a nascent team who overcame significant challenges in order to participate in the Competition. The Regional Final was judged by the honorable Ambassador Kimitake NAKAMURA (Japan), Prof. Steven FREELAND (Australia), and Prof. Kai-Uwe SCHROGL (France). The Winner of the Regional Round was Singapore Management University (Singapore) who is now the representative of the Region for the World Final in Milan. Yu TAKEUCHI, the 2024 Regional Organizer for Asia-Pacific, on behalf of the organizing committee, appreciates the three Final Judges, 19 judges who generously served as Oral Judges on site and 43 Memorial Judges who evaluated the memorial round from around the world. In addition, appreciation goes to all of the supporters, sponsors, staff members and participants who tremendously, untiringly, and enthusiastically engaged and supported the organization of the Regional Round. The Regional Round of 2025 will be organized in Gujarat National Law University, Gandhinagar, India and the baton of the Regional Organizer will be relayed to Prof. Divya TYAGI of that University. Lastly, the Regional Organizer would like to take this opportunity to introduce the Local Organizing Committee members, especially in recognition of the young generation, who heavily contributed to the organization. Chief Director: Prof. Souichirou KOZUKA (Japan) General Advisor: Prof. Setsuko AOKI (Japan) External Relations: Prof. Masahiko SATO (Japan) Associate Regional Organizer: Mr. Gopalakrishnan V. (India) Assistant Regional Organizer: Ms. Yui NAKAMA (Japan) Assistant Regional Organizer: Mr. Shunshi DEGUCHI (Japan) Memorials Coordinator: Mr. Bryant Mishima-BAKER (USA) Chief Clerk: Ms. Reiko KAWAI (Japan)
The 2024 Latin American Regional MLSLMCC – Photo impressions
The 2024 Regional Round of the Latin American Region of the Manfred Lachs Space Law Moot Court Competition was successfully held. The event was organised by the Universidad Católica de Colombia. This year’s Latin American rounds of the Manfred Lachs Moot Court were held in Jaén, Spain, on May 8-9, 2024, bringing together teams from across the region to engage in a fierce legal competition. This year’s event saw an incredible display of legal and advocacy skills, culminating in the victory of the team from the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM), who secured their place as regional champions for the second year in a row. The UNAM team will now advance to represent Latin America in the world finals in Milan, showcasing their talent on a global stage. For more information, please see here: https://www.ucatolica.edu.co/portal/ronda-latinoamericana-de-la-manfred-lachs-space-law-moot-court-competition/ as well as on our website: https://iisl.space/index.php/latin-america-manfred-lachs-space-law-moot-court-competition/.
IISL Happy Hour #15 held
IISL Happy Hours are events coordinated and co-hosted by IISL Members Setsuko Aoki and Quentin Verspieren. This is a monthly 60-minute program starting with a presentation by an IISL member about a recent project or study, followed by a free discussion session during which all participating IISL members are invited to chat and report on their relevant activities. For the 14th IISL Happy Hour, Dr. Quentin Verspieren, Assistant Professor of Public Policy at The University of Tokyo and Space Safety Programme Coordinator at the European Space Agency, presented ESA’s recent Zero Debris Charter initiative, by which the Agency facilitated the drafting of the the world’s most ambitious vision of space debris mitigation and remediation to-date. He emphasises the importance of translating globally accepted space norms (e.g. LTS Guidelines) into concrete technical targets, to drive the implementation of more virtuous practices. Dr. Verspieren also insisted on the value of non-binding instruments in establishing a bold global consensus on space sustainability issues. The presentation was followed by an active Q&A session on the compatibility of such initiative with pre-existing ones, on the importance to deal with legacy assets and on how to look beyond Zero Debris at a Circular Economy in space. Attending IISL members then shared updates on their recent activities and new members introduced themselves to the community. The video recording of the 15th IISL Happy Hour is available below.
IISL Elections 2024 – Voting period now open
IISL Members are invited to vote in the 2024 IISL Board Elections between 15 June and 15 July 2024! For taking part in the elections, please consult (via the buttons below): VOTING IS ONLY OPEN TO IISL MEMBERS IN GOOD STANDING. Find more info via the buttons below on:
IISL member news: Limina Journal – Call for Papers
IISL Member Professor Michael Bohlander in his capacity as Volume Editor for the Limina – The Journal of UAP Studies invites IISL members to take notice of the call for papers for a special volume of the Journal. Please see details below. “Alien encounter narratives in judicial proceedings” Limina – The Journal of UAP Studies | Special Volume | Call for papers Volume editor Professor Michael Bohlander Chair in Global Law and SETI Policy| Durham University | UK About the special volume The reluctance of the vast majority of SETI and some UAP researchers to take non-repeatable personal alien encounter narratives into account is a staple trope in the general alien encounter and UAP debate. However, the proof of the pudding would seem to lie in investigating the very practical consequences of the use of encounter testimony of all sorts in legal proceedings, for example, when examining how courts would react to a claim that somebody had a car accident because she was buzzed by a UFO or distracted by a sighting while driving etc. In the age of increasingly ubiquitous dashcam footage, for example, we might now even have new sources of evidence to complement the personal narrative. The papers invited for this special issue are meant to engage with the rules of the evaluation of evidence in court proceedings, take a look at the principles of forensic witness psychology, and how the interplay might influence the outcome of a case in real life. After an initial survey of potential past court cases involving alien encounter narratives of any kind in their respective countries, the papers will focus on two case studies – one civil and one criminal law – to be addressed according to each author’s domestic legal system, and on a third case study on general witness psychology. Details can be found at Call For Papers (uapstudies.org).