The Washington Foreign Law Society
Presents
Progressing Cyber Accountability: The Private Sector, NGOs, and the UN
Tuesday, December 7th, 2021
from 12:00 PM to 1:00 PM ET
– This event is jointly organized with the Stimson Center –
The 2019-21 Open-ended Working Group (OEWG) on cyber issues was a novel UN approach to including multilateral stakeholders in cyber discussions – but to what end and how can those efforts inform the first substantive meeting of the new OEWG that begins December 13, chaired by Singapore’s Ambassador Burhan Gafoor? His Excellency Mr. Jürg Lauber, Permanent Representative of Switzerland to the United Nations and other Organizations in Geneva, who chaired the first multi-stakeholder OEWG, and Ms. Allison Pytlak, Program Manager in the disarmament program of the Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom (WILPF), who played a key role in facilitating stakeholder input to the OEWG, will advise on ways to progress UN efforts and cybersecurity.
Featured speakers:
– H.E. Amb. Jürg Lauber, Permanent Representative of Switzerland to the United Nations and other Organizations in Geneva
– Ms. Allison Pytlak, Program Manager, Disarmament Program of the Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom
The program will be moderated by Debra Decker, Board Member of the Washington Foreign Law Society and Stimson Center Senior Advisor. Michael Teodori, President of the Washington Foreign Law Society, will open the discussion.
His Excellency Amb. Jürg Lauber is the Permanent Representative of Switzerland to the United Nations and other Organizations in Geneva. Prior to this, Ambassador Lauber served from 2015 as Permanent Representative of Switzerland to the United Nations in New York. During this time, he also served as Chair of the first Open-ended Working Group on Developments in the Field of Information and Telecommunications in the Context of International Security (2019-2021). This was the first time all States, the private sector, NGOs and others were included in UN discussions of ways to address current cyber risks. Ambassador Lauber was also President of the Burundi Configuration of the Peacebuilding Commission and previously was Deputy Permanent Representative of Switzerland to the United Nations Office at Geneva from 2009 to 2011, and Permanent Representative of Switzerland to the Conference on Disarmament. Before joining the Federal Department of Foreign Affairs in 1993 he worked in peacekeeping missions in Namibia (UNTAG) and Korea (Panmunjom). Between 2007 and 2009 he served as chef de cabinet to the president of the International Criminal Court in The Hague, Netherlands. Between 2011 and 2015 he served as head of the United Nations and International Organizations Division in Bern. Ambassador Lauber has a law degree from the University of Zurich.
Allison Pytlak is Manager of the Disarmament Programme of the Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom (WILPF). She contributes to the organization's monitoring and analysis of UN disarmament processes including those on cyber security, as well as to its research and advocacy to advance feminist perspectives on international security issues. Pytlak was closely involved in efforts to ensure civil society engagement in the UN’s first cyber OEWG and participated in all of its substantive meetings. She has worked within international civil society movements for more than a decade. Pytlak holds a BA in International Relations from the University of Toronto and an MA, also in International Relations, from the City University of New York. Her graduate research focused on interstate cyber conflict. Her subsequent research and advocacy have focused on the role of stakeholders, the militarization of cyberspace, cyber repression and gender dimensions of cyber security. She is an expert with the Forum on the Arms Trade and a 2018 UN Women Metro-NY "Champion of Change."
Resources discussed during the event:
UN First Committee
Final reports of the recent GGE and recent OEWG with Chair’s report and background papers
Info on and registration for participation in new OEWG
Discussions of UN’s various cyber efforts
Overview of UN System Actors, Processes and Activities on ICT-related issues of Interest to the OEWG
Publication from UNIDIR on the relationship b/w the First and Third Committee processes
Accountability paper from UNIDIR on due diligence in cyberspace
On Third Committee process on cybercrime and treaty discussions
Background info/call for participation in Ad Hoc committee on Cybercrime
The UNODC as the “host” entity in the UN for the Ad Hoc Committee on Cybercrime
Backgrounder from DigWatch: https://dig.watch/processes/cybercrime-ad-hoc-committee/
Ways to get involved/stay informed
Info on Geneva Dialogue on Responsible Behaviour in Cyberspace, which helps to shape a joint vision regarding the security of digital products with leading businesses
Follow Let’s Talk Cyber Initiative
Subscribe to Reaching Critical Will and Digital Watch newsletters
Join ICANN – The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers
On stakeholders’ participation in UN efforts
Paris Call Working Group 3 (WG3) on “Advancing the UN Negotiations on Cybersecurity with a Strong Multistakeholder Approach,” which the Cybersecurity Tech Accord has chaired
Joint paper: stakeholders-OEWG.pdf (reachingcriticalwill.org) –
Podcast about role of civil society in cyberspace: https://www.chathamhouse.org/2020/11/who-rules-cyberspace-engaging-civil-society
Examples of good stakeholder engagement in other UN First Committee processes: https://www.gp-digital.org/publication/ngo-participation-in-multilateral-and-multistakeholder-forums-good-practice-examples/
On the Cyber Programme of Action (PoA) and other efforts
Working Paper for a Programme of Action (PoA) to advance responsible State behavior in the use of ICTs in the context of international security, submitted by France and Egypt on behalf of the PoA co-sponsors
Lessons learned from the small arms Programme of Action (PoA): https://reachingcriticalwill.org/resources/publications-and-research/publications/15159-programming-action-observations-from-small-arms-control-for-cyber-peace
Application of the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court to Cyberwarfare Prepared by the Permanent Mission of Liechtenstein to the United Nations, and supported by Switzerland and others
Cyber Policy Portal – UNIDIR’s monitoring of national policies, suggested States call out international laws and norms when violated and the Portal monitor these.