Q1/2019 - Global Commission on the Stability of Cyberspace (GCSC)
Geneva/Kobe, January & March 2019
On 22 January 2019, the GCSC organised a public hearing for its Norm Package Singapore in the building of the UN in Geneva. The hearing was held in cooperation with UNIDIR (UN Institute for Disarmament Research)[1]. The session took place alongside the 2nd meeting of the UN High Level Panel on Digital Cooperation. Fabrizio Hochschild, UN Assistant Secretary-General, welcomed in his opening speech the close cooperation between the UN Panel and the Global Commission. On 25 January 2019, a joint public debriefing of the two meetings was held at the premises of the “Geneva Internet Platform”[2].
In March 2019, the GCSC came together again for an internal meeting in Kobe to discuss the structure of the closing report on the basis of the feedback it had received on the Norm Package Singapore within the framework of the public hearing. The GCSC is going to submit a revised version of the Norm Package by summer 2019. The Commission further intends to present a supplementary proposal for a definition of cyber stability in addition to the proposed norms.
The Commission discussed how the norms could be implemented and be integrated in the practical political process. With satisfaction it was noted that the two norms “Call to Protect the Public Core of the Internet” and “Cyber Hygiene” had been incorporated into the Paris Call for Trust and Security in Cyberspace of November 2018. Prior to that, the European Parliament had already included the “Public Core” norm in a resolution on cyber security. In consultations with the Japanese government possibilities were discussed to integrate elements of the norm package into the G20 documents of 2019. Additionally, a cooperation with the two new UN working groups on cyber security (GGE & OEWG) was taken into consideration.
The GCSC performed a series of bilateral consultations with ICANN and various ICANN Constituencies on the two norms “Call to Protect the Public Core of the Internet” and “Cyber Hygiene”. In addition to convening with the ICANN Board, the Group met for consultations with SSAC, RSSAC, ALAC, GNSO, NCUC, NCSG and ISPC. With SSAC it discussed the compilation of a joint statement on strengthening security and stability in cyberspace and the implementation of the norms “Call to Protect the Public Core of the Internet” and “Cyber Hygiene”. Such statement could be prepared by a joint drafting team for the ICANN meeting in Montreal in November 2019[3].
The previous chair of the GCSC, the former Estonian Foreign Minister, Marina Kaljurand, declared her resignation at the meeting in Kobe. She had been elected to the Estonian Parliament in the parliamentary elections at the beginning of March 2019. The two previous vice chairs of the GCSC, Latha Reddy, former Deputy National Security Adviser of the Indian president, and Michael Chertoff, former Secretary of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, take over the chairmanship of the Global Commission as co-chairs with equal rights as of March 2019[4]. Marina Kaljurand will stay a “Commissioner” member of the GCSC. The next session of the GCSC will be held in The Hague on 16 to 18 June 2019, on the eve of the EURODIG 2019. The final report is scheduled to be presented at the Munich Security Conference in February 2020.