Five years on: Achievements, failures, and the future of the UN Cyber Dialogue

The UN Open-Ended Working Group (OEWG) on security of, and in the use of ICTs, reached its eleventh and final session and adopted its Final report, offering a moment for reflection and critical assessment.

The expert discussion explored the OEWG’s achievements in advancing common understandings among states on responsible behaviour in cyberspace, challenges encountered in bridging diverse national positions and operationalising agreed norms, and provided an overall look at the process since 2021. By looking at the past negotiating process from various angles, participants were invited to reflect on how these negotiations shaped international cyber stability and cooperation.

The one-hour session brought together four discussants – two representatives of states and two from multistakeholder communities – to offer diverse perspectives on the main achievements, unresolved issues, and how the OEWG experience can inform future global cyber negotiations. Through the interactive format, which allowed the involvement of all the participants, the discussion provided a space to examine successes and failures, lessons learned, pathways and obstacles for implementation of the agreed framework, and possibilities to strengthen inclusivity and effectiveness in the UN cyber dialogue moving forward.

The discussants were:

• Emmanuella Darkwah, Senior Manager for International Cooperation at Ghana’s Cyber Security Authority
• Catalina Vera Toro, Alternate Representative, Permanent Mission of Chile to the Organization of American States (OAS), Specialist in Cybersecurity, Digital Governance, and Public Policy
• Rose Payne, Policy and Advocacy Lead at Global Partners Digital
• Madeline Murphy Hall, Senior Program Manager, Microsoft

The session was moderated by Vladimir Radunović, Director of Cybersecurity & E-diplomacy, Diplo.

The session was organised as the first part of the two-part webinar. While the first part focused on reflections about the past five years of negotiations, the second one will shift toward the future, exploring the framing and ideas for the next phase of the UN cyber dialogue.