The Commonwealth of The Bahamas is now a member of the United Nations Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space (COPUOS), the body of the United Nations General Assembly that develops the international law and policy governing activities in outer space.
The Bahamas is the first Member State of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) to sit on the Committee.
The Permanent Mission of The Bahamas to the United Nations in New York submitted the application by Note Verbale of June 2, 2026. The Committee considered it at its 69th session, held in Vienna from June 10 – 18, 2026, and decided to recommend to the General Assembly that The Bahamas become a member. On October 30, 2026, the Fourth Committee of the General Assembly (Special Political and Decolonization) approved that recommendation without a vote, as part of the draft resolution on international cooperation in the peaceful uses of outer space.
What membership involves
The Committee and its two subcommittees, the Scientific and Technical Subcommittee and the Legal Subcommittee, meet each year at the Vienna International Centre and take their decisions by consensus. Their current work includes space debris mitigation, the long-term sustainability of outer space activities, the legal aspects of space traffic management and the legal framework for space resource activities. The Legal Subcommittee also reviews the status and application of the five United Nations treaties on outer space. The Bahamas is a party to two of them, the Outer Space Treaty and the Rescue Agreement.
As a member, The Bahamas will take part in shaping the guidelines that States apply to launches, re-entries and the recovery of space objects, and will have a voice when the Committee considers matters that affect coastal and archipelagic States. The Bahamas will also seek closer engagement with the programmes of the United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs, the Committee’s secretariat, including UN-SPIDER, the United Nations platform for space-based information for disaster management and emergency response, which supports hurricane preparedness and response.
Membership of COPUOS is part of the Government’s wider effort to use space technology to monitor and protect our environment, to cooperate with all countries on the space matters that bear on our country’s development, and to build our capabilities so that The Bahamas contributes, in accordance with international law, to the safe and responsible conduct of space activities in our region.
The Government of The Bahamas thanks the members of the Committee for supporting its application, the United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs for its assistance throughout the process, and the staff of the Permanent Mission of The Bahamas to the United Nations in New York.
