Cyberspace4All: Towards an Inclusive Approach to Cyberspace Governance (Phase 1 & 2)

Summary

With support from the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs, this project aims to create shared language and references on international cyber governance, raise awareness on key developments in the two UNGA forums and help inform state policies on cyber norms.

Details

Aim

This project aims to create shared language and references on international cyber governance and help inform state policies on cyber norms.

Through two parallel tracks – a policy track and an international law track – the Second Phase of this project (implemented jointly by Chatham House’s International Security and International Law programme) will:

• Lead on a process aimed at developing options for operationalizing the principles;
• Support the operationalization of the OEWG’s capacity building principles by communicating the principles more widely and developing options and recommendations for their implementation in the context of the OEWG work and beyond;
• Advance understanding of the application of certain rules on state responsibility in cyberspace; and
• Build state capacity on state responsibility and response options in cyberspace

Context

As threats in cyberspace proliferate, global cyber governance is becoming more challenging, more imperative and more complex.

The recent UN Open-ended Working Group on security of and in the use of information and communications technologies (OEWG) and UN Group of Governmental Experts on Advancing responsible State behaviour in cyberspace in the context of international security (GGE) processes on cyberspace have produced consensus reports which have been hailed as major developments in global cyberspace governance.

With a new five-year UN OEWG process (2021-2025) underway, it is expected that the next few years will continue to be crucial in shaping this agenda.

Given i) the novelty of some aspects of the cyber governance debate, ii) the intersections that exist between cyber and digital policy areas (cybersecurity, cybercrime, Internet governance, etc.) and other national priorities, and iii) the differing levels of maturity that exist between states, there is a strong need for filling research gaps and for developing and implementing targeted capacity-building activities.

Outcomes

Through its activities, the project will help:

• Create a shared language and references on international cyber governance
• Raise awareness on key developments in the two UNGA forums and key ongoing initiatives
• Help inform states policies on cyber norms in preparation for their engagements in the UN negotiations
• Provide a productive space to facilitate debate and discussion for ALL on key developments around international cyber governance

Outputs

Between August 2019 and June 2022, the First Phase of this project produced:

• A special issue of the Journal of Cyber Policy;
• 3 video explainers in the 6 UN languages on the rules of cyberspace, creating a stable cyberspace, and the role of capacity building in cyberspace;
• A five-episode podcast mini-series on ‘Who Rules Cyberspace?’;
• A meeting summary from a regional conference held in Jordan on cyber diplomacy and governance.

Activities 

• Cyber Diplomacy and Governance: Opportunities, Challenges and Way Forward for the Arab Countries (Jordan, 16th-17th May 2022):  The conference convened over 60 delegates from the Arab countries (ranging from ambassadors, diplomats, experts and policymakers), regional stakeholders from civil society and academia and international experts. The conference:
  • Provided a space for structured discussion between Arab stakeholders on
    international cyber governance;
  • Identified ways in which Arab countries can enhance their coordination to
    support their future engagements in global forums; and
  • Discussed concrete steps that Arab countries can take to operationalize the
    agreements they have endorsed at the UN.
• Cyberspace Governance at the United Nations (18th January 2023):With a dual focus on cyber capacity building and international law, this event considers how these two elements interact and intersect, how discussions on them could progress in the UN space and outside it and how the two contribute to a safer and more secure cyberspace for all.