What space law can tell us about international law - Cris van Eijk

In this episode, Dr Simon McKenzie chats with Cris van Eijk about space law – including some of its fundamental documents and places of political contestation - and what the structure and focus of space law tells us about international law more generally.  After a few decades on the outer, space law is back in vogue: the rise of commercial space ventures combined with an uptick in geopolitical tension about the use of space makes it particularly important for us to think about if and how it is regulated by law.

Cris van Eijk is an international lawyer and is currently researching outer space law from environmental, historical, and decolonial perspectives. He is currently part of the Working Group on International Law of the International Astronomical Union's Dark and Quiet Skies Conference, as well as Legal Advisor at Jus Ad Astra, where he analyses environmental rights in orbit. He holds a BA in International Justice and an LLM in Public International Law from Leiden University and is in the final stages of a graduate-entry law degree at the University of Cambridge. 

Further reading:

• Cris van Eijk, ‘Unstealing the Sky: Third World Equity in the Orbital Commons’ 
  • ‘Sorry, Elon: Mars Is Not a Legal Vacuum – and It’s Not Yours, Either’ 
  • ‘International Lawyers, Look to the Heavens – Before We Lose Them’ 
• Cris van Eijk and Timiebi Aganaba-Jeanty, ‘Inspired by Africa: A New Approach to Global Space Governance’ 
• Cassandra Steer and Matthew Hersch (eds), War and Peace in Outer Space: Law, Policy, and Ethics 
• Joshua Fitzmaurice and Stacey Henderson, ‘On the Legality of Mars Colonisation’ 
• Surabhi Ranganathan, ‘Ocean Floor Grab: International Law and the Making of an Extractive Imaginary’ 
• Surabhi Ranganathan, ‘The Common Heritage of Mankind: Annotations on a Battle’, 
• Cair Storr, 'Space Is the Only Way to Go: On the Evolution of the Extractivist Imaginary of International Law’, 
• Elena Cirkovic, ‘The Next Generation of International Law: Space, Ice, and the Cosmolegal Proposal’ 
• Natalie Treviño, ‘The Cosmos Is Not Finished’ (PhD, Western University 2020)
• Timiebi Aganaba-Jeanty, ‘Space Sustainability and the Freedom of Outer Space’ 
• Fabio Tronchetti, ‘Legal Aspects of the Military Uses of Outer Space’, Handbook of Space Law 
• Tanja Masson-Zwaan and Mahulena Hofmann, Introduction to Space Law