Throwback to the 2020 Online YLS
Every year, the ECSL is inviting young scholars and professionals to take part in the Young Lawyers' Symposium (YLS). The aim of the YLS is to allow early career scholars and professionals to present on a space law related topic in an international forum, exchange ideas and network amongst themselves.
The 5th edition of the YLS, initially set to take place on 24 April 2020 at ESA ESOC in Darmstadt was reorganised online on the 19th of June in the context of the covid-19 outbreak. We are happy to look back at a great event as we are already preparing for the 2021 edition (to be announced early 2021) . The ECSL also wished to congratulate the selected speakers for their inspiring abstracts and very professional presentations.
The 2020 YLS, topics and speakers
For the 2020 YLS, participants had to submit an abstract addressing one of the following topics:
(i) The legality of the use of force in outer space
(ii) Legal tools to guarantee space safety
(iii) Use of outer space against climate change and environmental crises
These 3 panels were chaired by high-level space law experts while speakers, young lawyers in the field, presented their work. Speakers were selected based on the submission of their abstract. Following the event, one speaker from each Panel is invited to submit a full paper to be published on the ECSL website.
The ECSL would like to extend its warmest congratulations to the very inspiring speakers who were selected to present on the 2020 edition of Young Lawyer's Symposium.
Throughout the day, a variety of topics were addressed and discussed, from export control to dispute resolution, space safety, challenges of earth observation in times of crises, cyberattacks etc… (see program). At the end of the day, the common thread which stood out of the insightful discussions was without a doubt the ever-growing relevance and importance of space law and policy when conducting space activities.
Read more about the event and the winners of the 2020 YLS below:
Panel 1 - The legality of the use of force in outer space
After the very interesting presentations given by speakers, the Panel was followed by a session for discussions which led to several questions and debate on the relevance of international fora for multilateral discussions in the context of cyber-attacks, the risks of intrusions against space-related-assets, the increasing development of both regional and national military branch for space , militarization and weaponization of space etc...
The winner for Panel 1 is Michael Friedl for his presentation: "Are ESA’s space objects protected by the prohibition on the use of force and is there a right to collective self-defence by ESA member states?"
Panel 2 - Legal tools to guarantee space safety
For this panel the discussions gravitated around a variety of complex and interesting topics such as "dispute settlement" mechanism, export control, collision avoidance, space traffic management etc...
The winner for Panel 2 is Morgane Lecas for her presentation on " The way towards space traffic management: benchmarking civil aviation regulations and tools for safety"
Panel 3 - Use of outer space against climate change and environmental crises
For this topical panel very much linked to the challenges the world is currently facing, great discussions took place regarding the role and relevance of Earth Observation, space applications, management of natural disasters using space-based technologies, sustainability in space activities, open data etc...
The winner for Panel 3 is Alesandra Matteis for her presentation on "Health observation from space: The contribution of Space Law in promoting space activities for global health".
We are very much looking forward to the 2021 edition of the Young Lawyers' Symposium for more insightful discussions and networking opportunities.
In the meantime you can keep an eye out for the articles to be published and read about the Chairs and speakers here: https://esamultimedia.esa.int/docs/ECSL/Booklet_YLS_2020.pdf