Cristian van Eijk
Cristian's thesis considers how environmental law applies in space through historical and anticolonial lenses and aims to reconsider the environmental status of space from the ground up.
Project title
The Environmental Othering of Orbit Under International Law
Supervisors
Emily Jones, Darren McCauley and Chris Newman (Northumbria University)
Abstract
Outer space is critical to our daily lives in countless invisible ways – but space is not protected by the same environmental rules that apply on Earth. This legal conclusion rests upon certain historical presumptions that are rarely considered in their own right. By considering how environmental law applies in space through historical and anticolonial lenses, van Eijk aims to reconsider the environmental status of space from the ground up. Ultimately, he hopes to enable a deeper understanding of what future possibilities exist for the environmental governance of Earth orbit, and of common resources in general.
Funding
Northern Bridge Consortium Doctoral Training Programme
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Conference papers and publications
Book Chapters
Claerwen O’Hara & Cristian van Eijk, ‘On Straightening and Subversion: A Queer Feminist Exploration of International Space Law and Politics’ in Claerwen O’Hara and Tamsin Phillipa Paige (eds), Queer Encounters with International Law: Times, Spaces, Imaginings (Routledge 2024) (forthcoming), https://ssrn.com/abstract=4719161
Cristian van Eijk, ‘Uncloseting Travaux’ in Claerwen O’Hara and Tamsin Phillipa Paige (eds), Queer Encounters with International Law: Times, Spaces, Imaginings (Routledge 2024). (forthcoming) https://ssrn.com/abstract=4565317
Emily Jones, Cristian van Eijk, & Gina Heathcote, ‘The Common Heritage of Kin-Kind’ (2024), in International Law and Posthuman Theory (Matilda Arvidsson & Emily Jones eds) (Routledge 2024), 105-136
Journal Articles
Cristian van Eijk, ‘The Exclusive Making of Space Law’ (2024) Leiden Journal of International Law (forthcoming)
Cristian van Eijk, ‘Unstealing the Sky: Third World Equity in the Orbital Commons’ (2022) 47 Air & Space Law 25
Cristian van Eijk & Timiebi Aganaba, ‘Inspired by Africa: A New Approach to Space Governance’ (2021) 9 New Space 1
Academic Blogs
Cristian van Eijk, ‘Satellite Imagery’s Colonial Legacy’ (Opinio Juris, 8 Feb 2023)
Cristian van Eijk, ‘International Law as Science Fiction’ (Opinio Juris, 27 Oct 2021)
Cristian van Eijk, ‘International Lawyers, Look to the Heavens – Before We Lose Them’ (Völkerrechtsblog, 7 April 2021)
Cristian van Eijk, ‘Sorry, Elon: Mars is not a legal vacuum – and it’s not yours, either’ Völkerrechtsblog (2020)
Cristian van Eijk, ‘Assessing Laws Preventing the Removal of Confederate Monuments in the USA’ MELA Project (2018)
Other
‘Dark and Quiet Skies II Report’ (C Walker & P Benvenuti eds) (IAU 2022), pt 3 Ch2 § 6, pp 122-129
Conference presentations and panels
‘Why Doesn't the Outer Space Treaty Call Space an Environment? (Space Park Leicester) (Sept 2023)
‘Uncloseting Travaux’ (Queering International Law 2.0, University of Melbourne) (Nov 2022)
‘Earth's Orbit: Threshold to the Stars’ (The New School & 1014) (Feb 2022)
‘Time, Variance & Authority in Space Lawmaking’ (Western University) (Nov 2021)
(with Jus Ad Astra), ‘Human Rights in Space: The Right to Health’ (ASCEND) (Nov 2021)
‘Our Same Shared Heavens: Orbit, Environmental Rights, and Belonging’ (Asser Institute) (Oct 2021)
‘Unstealing the Sky: Third World Equity in the Orbital Commons’ (AjV-DGIR Conference) (Sept 2021)
‘Unstealing the Sky’ (SichTRaum Seminar) (June 2021)
(with Timiebi Aganaba, et al), ‘The Emerging 5.0 Era’ (McGill University Seminar) (Mar 2021)
‘Benefit-Sharing’ (IASC Conference Panel) (Feb 2021)
‘Critically Assessing the Commons Status of Near-Earth Space’ (IASC Conference) (Feb 2021)
‘The Quest to Connect: A Human Rights Approach to Global Internet’ (CILJ Conference) (May 2020)
Academic podcasts
‘Artemis Accords: Cooperation or Conflict?’ Celestial Citizen (Mar 2023)
‘Space Colonization, Erasure of the Global South, & Other Anxieties’ Jus Cogens (Nov 2021)
‘What Space Law Can Tell Us About International Law’ Law and the Future of War (Oct 2021)
‘The Right to Environment in Space’ Pod Ad Astra (Aug 2021)
‘A Beginners Guide to Space Law’ The Auxiliary Chamber (July 2021)
‘The Legal Landscape of Mars’ Celestial Citizen (Mar 2021)
Qualifications
BA International Justice, Leiden University College The Hague
LLM Public International Law, Leiden University
BA Law, University of Cambridge