On the occasion of the official launch on 6 July 2018 in Berlin of the ICT4Peace supported first international Commentary on Norms of Responsible State Behaviour in Cyberspace, friends and colleagues bid a very warm farewell to Karsten Geier, Head Cyber Policy Coordination Staff, Federal Foreign Office of Germany. Karsten has been serving and representing his country since 2014 with distinction, as the leading negotiator of Germany in global cybersecurity affairs.

The participants expressed their deep appreciation for the very important contribution Karsten Geier has been making to the development of Peace and Security in Cyberspace, inter alia through the development and promotion of International Norms of Responsible State Behaviour and Confidence Building Measures in Cyberspace, be it at the UN Group of Governmental Experts on Cybersecurity (UN GGE) of the First Committee of the UN General Assembly or at the OSCE in Vienna. He has been also a very generous advisor in this field to international organisations such as the OAS, African Union and ASEAN. A particular contribution Karsten also made to the launch of the first of its kind Cybersecurity Capacity Policy and Diplomacy Capacity Building Program of ICT4Peace along with other Governments, such as The Netherlands, UK, Switzerland, Australia and New Zealand. A description of the program can be found here.

Germany, along with The Netherlands, also supported the idea and production of the UNODA Commentary on Cyber Norms produced by the ICT4Peace Foundation in co-operation with the University of Leiden, that was launched in Berlin and can be found here.

The panel discussion on the occasion of the launch of the UNODA Commentary in Berlin was chaired and moderated by Ambassador Dr. Thomas Fitschen, Director for the United Nations, Cyber Foreign Policy and Counter-Terrorism, Federal Foreign Office of Germany. The Panelists were: Ms. Carmen Gonsalves, Head, International Cyber Policy, Security Policy Department, Ministry of Foreign Affairs of The Netherlands, Dr. Eneken Tikk, Senior Advisor, ICT4Peace, Dr. Mika Kerttunen, Director, Cyber Policy Institute, Dr. Serge Droz, Member of the Board, First, and Dr. Daniel Stauffacher, Founder and President of ICT4Peace.

For more information on ICT4Peace’s work on Norms and Confidence Building Measures for the Cyberspace see here.