This is the second edition of Eneken Tikk’s Cyber Norms Blogposts. This series of articles is published on a monthly basis in 2019. In these posts Dr. Eneken Tikk, Senior Advisor ICT4Peace Foundation, offers her insights on the international cyber norms dialogue. These Cyber Norms Blogposts will highlight normative contributions from states, regional and international organizations, industry and academia that could be considered in the dialogue on responsible use of ICTs by States.
Disclaimer: The views expressed in these Blogposts are not necessarily those of the ICT4Peace Foundation.
Search for Cyber Norms – Where to Look?
#2 National Views and Positions in the UN
Even though only 38 states have been fortunate to send their experts to the UN GGE, every country has a voice in the cyber norms dialogue. A way to get involved is via national replies to the Secretary-General, views in the broader UNGA discussions, feeds into upcoming consultations, or responding to the call of the UN Secretary-General in the context of Digital Cooperation.
Reading governments’ input reveals much more than immediate national positions or recommendations. It reveals a load of assumptions that underpin the cyber norms discourse. Country positions are claims of preferred structure and procedures. They express preferences about how to approach gaps and weaknesses of public international order in the ICT environment.
Before 2014, hardly any government thought of mitigating international cybersecurity with voluntary and non-binding norms – the first public references to this direction are in the Swedish and German contributions in 2014. It appears that this turn was internalized in and during the GGE and sealed with the 2015 UN GGE report.
Please read the entire article here.
Please find the article “2018: The year that cyber peace became non-binding” (author: Eneken Tikk) here.