First meeting of the UN OEWG

The organisational meeting of the UN Open-Ended Working Group (OEWG), established by the UN General Assembly (A/RES/73/27) in December 2018 to address developments in information and telecommunications in the context of international security, took place in New York on 3-4 June. The OEWG will be chaired by Amb. Jürg Lauber, Permanent Representative of Switzerland to the UN in New York, and will gather all interested UN member states. The meeting agreed on rules of procedure, re-confirmed that decisions will be taken on a consensus basis, and signalled commitment of states to achieve strong links between the OEWG and GGE. The programme will be published over the summer. The next meeting of the OEWG is scheduled for 9-13 September in New York, and will be followed by two more meetings – in February and July 2020. The OEWG will also hold informal consultations with other stakeholders in December 2019; according to Global Partners Digital, the registration for non-governmental stakeholders will be conducted via the UN Office for Disarmament Affairs (UNODA) website, and applications will be reviewed on a rolling basis.