10. March 2021 New York

Report on Informal Multistakeholder Consultation on OEWG Zero Draft Report –

The objective of the “Informal Multi-stakeholder Consultation on the OEWG’s Zero-Draft Report” was to collect the perspectives of non-governmental stakeholders on the zero-draft of the UN Open-Ended Working Group (OEWG) on developments in the field of information and communication technology (ICT) in the context of international security, so as to inform ongoing discussions of the OEWG. The event was held on 25 February 2021, ahead of the third and final substantive session of the OEWG. At the time of publication, the “first draft” of the report was released.

The Co-facilitators of the SESSION 4: INTERNATIONAL LAW were Dapo Akande (University of Oxford) and Anne-Marie Buzatu (ICT4Peace).

This session began with kick-off remarks from Dapo Akande, University of Oxford and Anne-Marie Buzatu, ICT4PEACE. Diverse inputs were made from around ten non-governmental stakeholders and the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) either verbally or by using the chat function. Many participants stressed themes of accountability; the need for better clarity as to how states interpret and apply international law; and international humanitarian law (IHL). There was also some acknowledgement and discussion about the interrelationship between capacity building, confidence- building measures, and international law; in that when states outline and explain the legal basis of their actions and measures in cyberspace, this builds confidence and capacity.

https://front.un-arm.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/Outcome-Report-of-the-Informal-Multistakeholder-Consultation-on-OEWG-zero-draft.pdf