Extraterrestrial contact: international law & crimes against humanity

On June 15, a legal scholar released a provocative article in Space Review analyzing international legal norms and rights that would apply to visiting extraterrestrial life. The Space Review article comes less than a month after a bill (The Space Act) was passed by the U.S. House of Representatives dealing with U.S. and international law as it applies to commercial activities in space.  “Legal implications of an encounter with extraterrestrial intelligence” is a very timely article due to international efforts to update commercial space laws, especially as it is becoming more likely than ever that eventually extraterrestrial life or artifacts will be encountered by national space programs – if they haven’t been already!

The Space Review article helps identify key issues about how to regard commercial activities in space that result from agreements with extraterrestrial life. In the case that some of these agreements violate international legal norms, then would this make such agreements valid or invalid? This is especially important since there have been testimonies by whistleblowers claiming that agreements have already been reached with alien visitors in secret space programs that allegedly involve crimes against humanity.


The author of “Legal implications of an encounter with extraterrestrial intelligence,” Babak Hassanabadi says that one of the first legal issues to resolve is whether extraterrestrials have the same “human rights” as the rest of us. He writes:

In a world first, a court in Argentina issued a historic and unprecedented ruling that favors the rights of an orangutan held in captivity. Sandra the orangutan was granted legal action so she may be transferred to a habitat in keeping with her development…. These developments with regard to assigning human-like rights for terrestrial nonhuman animals leaves no doubt for inferring that extraterrestrial intelligent life forms, at least in terrestrial legal systems’ point of view, will enjoy rights equal to their human counterparts.

Hassanabadi’s point is a fair one. If humanity is prepared to recognize an orangutan as having human rights, then we would do the same for extraterrestrials, even if they looked like Chewbacca, the Wookie from Star Wars.

Continue Reading at .... http://exopolitics.org/extraterrestrial-contact-international-law-crimes-against-humanity/