Agenda item 7 : adoption of annual progress reports / Agenda item 6 : other matters/ Closure of the session

Adoption of the Annual Progress Report at the Ninth Meeting of the Open-Ended Working Group on ICT Security

The Ninth Meeting of the Eighth Substantive Session of the Open-Ended Working Group on Security of, and in the Use of ICTs, chaired by the distinguished Chair, focused on the adoption of the Annual Progress Reports under Agenda Item 7. The Draft Annual Progress Report, issued as Document A-AC-292-2024-CRP-1, faced proposed amendments from the Islamic Republic of Iran concerning Paragraphs 27, 31, 33, and Paragraphs 10 and 17 of NXC. The Chair, having previously stated an intention not to reopen the text, engaged in informal consultations with various delegations but acknowledged that consensus had not yet been reached for adoption.

The Islamic Republic of Iran, while expressing appreciation for the Chair’s efforts in further consultations, chose not to oppose the adoption of the report but disassociated from Paragraph 27. The Chair thanked Iran for its flexibility and willingness to join consensus, and the Working Group proceeded to adopt the Draft Annual Progress Report, taking note of Iran’s remarks.

Following this, the Chair moved to the consideration of the draft procedural report, Document A-AC-292-2024-L1, which outlines the mandate, organizational matters, and adoption of the Third Annual Progress Report. Mexico requested that their understanding of international law be recorded in the minutes, and the Chair acknowledged their flexibility.

The Chair then invited final remarks under Agenda Item 6. Australia highlighted the gender balance in interventions, with women making 51% of the contributions. The Russian Federation expressed dissatisfaction with certain elements of the report, including the concept of a framework for responsible state behavior in ICTs and the omission of a proposal for a convention on international information security. Cuba supported the statement by Nicaragua on behalf of like-minded countries and stressed the importance of developing binding norms for the responsible use of ICTs. The United States, while joining consensus, voiced concerns about the emphasis on developing new norms and the lack of progress on international law. The European Union thanked the Chair for the efforts to adopt the Annual Progress Report and acknowledged the diversity of views among delegations.

In closing, the Chair expressed gratitude to the team, the UN Secretariat, conference room officers, sound engineers, and interpreters for their support. The Chair reflected on the positive trajectory of the Working Group, noting the adoption of three consecutive Annual Progress Reports by consensus. The Chair emphasized the importance of the report as a foundation for the future permanent mechanism and outlined the work ahead, including the global POC directory, simulation exercises, and the final report. The Chair encouraged delegates to engage beyond their usual groups and to contribute ideas for the process. The session concluded with the Chair expressing appreciation for the team’s efforts, the Secretariat’s support, and the contributions towards gender equality in the process, as evidenced by the balance of gender participation in interventions. The meeting was then adjourned.

Chair:
Distinguished Delegates, the Ninth Meeting of the Eighth Substantive Session of the Open-Ended Working Group on Security of, and in the Use of ICTs, is now called to order. Distinguished Delegates, earlier this morning, we were under Agenda Item 7, Adoption of Annual Progress Reports, in order to consider and adopt the Draft Annual Progress Report, which is issued as Document A-AC-292-2024-CRP-1. At the adoption, or prior to the adoption of this report, we did hear a comment from a delegation, Islamic Republic of Iran, which had requested a series of amendments to the document in CRP-1. These amendments relate to, as proposed by the Islamic Republic of Iran, relate to Paragraph 27, Paragraph 31, Paragraph 33, and also Paragraph 10 of NXC and Paragraph 17 of NXC. As I had explained, it remains my intention not to reopen the text, and on that basis, I had undertaken a series of informal consultations with various delegations, and it is my sense that we are not yet in a position to adopt the Third Annual. It is also my sense that we would have to continue some of these informal conversations for the little time that we have left, because it is important that we do not miss this opportunity to reach a consensus outcome. Once again, I would like to appeal to all delegations to demonstrate utmost flexibility, while at the same time acknowledging and respecting the views and positions of every delegation. So at this point, we are not yet in a position to proceed to adoption, as I believe we would need some additional minutes to engage in informal conversations. At this point, I’d like to ask if any delegation wishes to make any remarks before we adjourn so that informal consultations continue. So I see no requests, so I suggest that we suspend the meeting for one hour so as to allow for informal conversations to continue. But I would also like to request that the burden not be placed entirely on the chair to produce solutions from thin air, because I believe I have done what I can to produce a document that I thought would bring us across the finish line. So in a sense, the document is on the floor of the working group, and I hope that each one of you can look at it and help me help each other cross the finishing line in a way that sends a signal that we have reached consensus, that we are able to collectively own the outcome we have produced, and that we are ready to take the next step forward. So let’s suspend for one hour, and we will meet again. And I hope to give you a further update. The meeting is suspended. Distinguished Delegates, the ninth meeting is resumed of the Open-Ended Working Group on Security of and the Use of ICTs. Distinguished Delegates, before we suspended, we were looking at the consideration of Agenda Item 7. We will therefore continue now to consider Agenda Item 7, which is the Adoption of the Annual Progress Report, to consider the Draft Annual Progress Report, which has been issued overnight as Document A-AC-292-2024-CRP1 in English only. May I take it that it is the wish of the Working Group to adopt the Draft Annual Progress Report of the Open-Ended Working Group as contained in Document AAC-292-2024-CRP-1? I give the floor to the Islamic Republic of Iran.

Islamic Republic of Iran:
Thank you Mr. Chair, and I would like to thank you for the effort that you have done during this time in order to have a further consultation on this important issue. In order to, in the spirit of the cooperation and having in mind the achievement that we have during this consultation, which everybody I think shared that achievement, my delegation would like to not stand against the adoption of this report, but we would like to disassociate my delegation from the paragraph 27. Thank you.

Chair:
Thank you very much, Islamic Republic of Iran. I take note of your statement, I express my deep appreciation to you and your delegation for the demonstration of flexibility and your willingness to join consensus. Distinguished delegates, may I therefore take it that it is the wish of the Working Group to adopt the Draft Annual Progress Report of the Open-Ended Working Group as contained in Document AAC-292-2024-CRP-1? and having taken note of the remarks made by the delegation of the Islamic Republic of Iran. I see no objections. It is so decided. Distinguished Delegations, I want to start by expressing my deep gratitude to all of you for your very, very deep demonstrations of flexibility, understanding and support for this process. and your demonstrations of flexibility that has allowed us to adopt the Third Annual Progress Report by consensus. In the course of the discussions of the draft Annual Progress Report, which is now adopted, it was clear that discussions at this session show that some issues within the report will require further work and consultations, such as paragraph 27 of the report. And in no prejudgment to next year’s report, I note that issues, in particular those of concern to delegations, remain open to further discussions and change when we resume our work at the next substantive sessions and beyond until we conclude our work in July 2025. Distinguished Delegates, the adoption of this report is a very concrete step forward. And I think this has only been possible because of your demonstrations of flexibility, your ideas, your contributions. and your strong support for this process. I’ll make some further reflections at the end of the session, but at this point we have a few other items that we need to deal with, and I would now suggest that we move to the consideration of the draft procedural report of the Open-Ended Working Group, which is contained in Document A-AC-292-2024-L1. Allow me to go through the procedural report. In Section 1, which is entitled Introduction, contains the description of the mandate of the establishment of this Open-Ended Working Group. And Section 2, which is entitled Organizational Matters, has six subsections, namely relating to the opening and duration of the sixth, seventh, and eighth sessions, Section B on Attendance, Section C on Offices, Section D on Organization of Work, Section E on Documentation, and Section F on Proceedings of the Working Group. In Section 3, which is entitled Adoption of the Report, contains a text describing our adoption of the Third Annual Progress Report, which we have just done. And may I ask if any delegation would like to take the floor at this stage before we proceed to the adoption of the procedural draft report as contained in Document A-AC-292-2024-L1. AC.292.2024L1, and to authorize the Chair to finalize the report. I see the delegation of Mexico. You have the floor, please.

Mexico:
Thank you very much, Chair. It wasn’t my intention to interrupt you, but I’d just like to refer to the previous item of the agenda, the report that was adopted. We’d like to once again congratulate you for your efforts that have been crowned with the adoption of this important report. My delegation just wanted to make a request to the Secretariat. Could you record in the minutes of this meeting that Mexico understands international law, international humanitarian law, and international human rights law? I’d be very grateful if that good understanding of my delegation could be reflected in the minutes of the meeting. And this is part of the great flexibility that we have shown in adopting this report this week. Thank you very much.

Chair:
Thank you very much, Mexico, for your statement, which is well noted, and also for Mexico’s demonstration of flexibility, which has allowed us to adopt the third annual progress report by consensus. Are there any other delegations that wish to take the floor at this stage? I see none. May I therefore take it that it is the wish of the working group to adopt the draft report as contained in Document A-292-2024-L1, and to authorize the Chair to finalize the report. I see no objections. It’s so decided. Before I make some closing remarks, I’d like to under agenda item six, which is other matters, I’d like to ask if any delegation would like to take the floor to make any final remarks under agenda item six, other matters. Australia, please.

Australia:
Thank you very much, Chair. I will be very brief. I think all of us were hoping to have a bit more of an early mark today. I very much was hoping to be drinking rosé by the water, but here we are. So very briefly, I just wanted to say that as always, my amazing team has been working closely with Catherine and the Secretariat to record and tally the interventions that have been made over the course of this week. This session, as of our count this morning, 51% of interventions were made by women, proving that we continue to kick goals and walk the talk of closing the digital gender divide. Thank you again, and I wish everyone here, and most particularly those on the podium, a full night’s sleep. We are very happy to see that we have made consensus today. Thank you.

Chair:
Thank you very much, Australia, for your statement and for sharing with us, as you always do, and keeping account of the participation of women in our process, which is so important to our work, in my view. And I take this opportunity to not only thank Australia, but also the other partners who… have supported the Women and Cyber Fellows Program, which has enabled so many countries to participate in this process, but also to shape the outcome to be a very important voice in this process that I believe has been very positive for our work. So thank you for that as well. I give the floor now to the Russian Federation.

Russian Federation:
Thank you. We recognize the fact that the initial version, which we started our discussions at the start of the week, has been improved a great deal. At the same time, there are many elements that have been introduced into the report with which the Russian Federation cannot agree, specifically despite our numerous requests. The very wishy-washy concept of a framework for responsible state behavior in the use of ICTs, that’s been introduced in there. We believe it’s unclear to use that kind of language. We should be using language drawn from the OEWG mandate. Furthermore, our proposal to draft a document setting out a list of new norms was rejected, and in fact there was a balance that wasn’t struck as a result. We regret the fact that the report doesn’t mention a proposal from a number of countries regarding… a convention on international information security. Furthermore, the POC, the point of contact list, coordination and communication between competent national authorities in case there are computer incidents or attacks, that’s been omitted as well. Furthermore, there’s an unacceptable link that’s been established between ransomware and issues of international peace and security. Turning to the future mechanism, the Russian Federation, together with the group of like-minded countries, believes that establishing legally binding norms in the sphere of international information security is part and parcel of the mandate of the new negotiating format. Furthermore, we believe that the modalities for cooperating with non-governmental entities within the framework of the future mechanism is something that needs to be agreed on by consensus next year in keeping with the recommendations contained in the report we adopted today. Mr Chairman, consensus, goodwill and flexibility is what we need. We believe an important task has been accomplished. We’ve created the parameters for a single universal negotiating mechanism on international information security, which will serve as the successor to the OEWG. It will be rooted in the OEWG’s mandate and its legacy. On a separate note, I’d like to add that not just the Russian Federation, But as far as we can tell from the discussions over the course of this week, there are a whole host of states which are concerned by the fact that states are using spyware, illicit spyware, and the spyware is being used to meddle in the domestic affairs of states in violation of fundamental human rights and freedoms. We’d like to inform you about the fact that detailed information about this, a detailed report about this, has been published on the OEWG website. Thank you for your kind attention.

Chair:
I would like this intervention to be entered into the record. Thank you. Thank you, Russian Federation. Your statement is noted. Cuba, to be followed by the United States.

Cuba:
Thank you, Chair. At the outset, we’d like to express our support for the statement delivered by Nicaragua on behalf of the group of like-minded countries that was delivered this morning. We would also like to recognize the efforts undertaken by yourself and your team for the adoption of the third annual progress report of the open-ended working group on security and use of information and communications technologies. Cuba very much appreciates this working group. It’s the only forum that allows all member states to discuss these matters transparently under equal conditions on security and use of ICTs. That is our commitment that guides us, and we will continue to play an active and constructive role to try to find the necessary balance in the document. We have favored consensus. because we feel that we must move forward towards the generation of binding norms in order to effectively guarantee the responsible use, behavior of states when it comes to the use of ICTs. We hope that at upcoming meetings of the working group, we’ll see progress in this endeavor in implementation of the mandate of the group before it finishes its work. At the same time, we appreciate that this report has included significant progress with regard to the design of the future intergovernmental mechanism for regular international dialogue, and it’s up to this group to approve by consensus the next steps to be taken in this regard. However, with regard to the upcoming discussions, we would stress that the future mechanism should maintain the modalities of the participation of other groups that have been agreed by the working group. It would be counterproductive to open up again or renegotiate those modalities. We recall that they were subject to a long process of negotiations which led to a delicate balance being struck in order to accommodate the concerns of all delegations. Additionally, with regard to the language of paragraph 9 of annex C, with regard to the functions of the future institutional dialogue mechanism, we’d like it to be recorded that Cuba understands that the mandate contains the preparation of legally binding obligations in the area of security of international communications. We reiterate our call for us to, at future meetings of the Working Group, to avoid importing inappropriate language from governmental groups that have limited composition, particularly with regard to subjects that do not enjoy international consensus, such as those relating to the automatic applicability of international law in the area of ICTs, including international humanitarian law. We also note that in the most recent version of the document, a notion was included with regard to the need for neutrality of technologies at the beginning of paragraph 22. We do not believe that that has been discussed and therefore it certainly is not subject to consensus, therefore it cannot be used as a language reference that is considered to be agreed at upcoming meetings. We do appreciate that good proposals have been considered that could help to build capacity and that pillar should be strengthened so that it really does make a contribution to reducing the digital divide that affects developing countries, as well as guaranteeing universal, inclusive and non-discriminatory access to information, science, knowledge, technologies and services related to ICTs for peaceful purposes. Finally, we once again state. Cuba’s willingness to continue to participate actively in the work of the Open-Ended Working Group. Thank you very much.

Chair:
Thank you. Thank you very much, Cuba. United States, please.

United States:
Thank you, Chair. We regret that we feel the need to address yet another Russian effort to distract from our work and undermine what should be a good-faith endeavor to move forward with a meaningful consensus report intended to address threats to international peace and security in cyberspace. Given our important work today, I won’t go into details on our domestic and international work to champion human rights online and take steps to prevent the misuse of commercial spyware tools, but we would be happy to discuss this issue with delegations. We’d be curious to hear about Russia’s domestic safeguards and oversight over its prolific use of similar tools. We aren’t aware of any. Moving on, Chair, I’d like to thank you and your team for all of your work this week and throughout the past year to advance the framework of responsible state behavior in cyberspace, which all UN states have repeatedly affirmed. We recognize that your task has been difficult. The nature of UN negotiations and the necessary compromise they entail usually mean that the final product is not ideal for anyone. Indeed, there are many areas in which we feel this report could have better reflected the progress made in the OAWG over the past year. For instance, we regret that the robust progress that the OAWG has made this year on issues of international law, including IHL, is not reflected in the final draft. We also believe that the final report still places too much emphasis on the elaboration of new norms when states have made clear that at this time they prefer to focus on the implementation of existing norms and discussions of how existing international law applies. Finally, we are disappointed that efforts to reach consensus on NXC do not appropriately address the balance of views expressed during our discussions. We look forward to clarifying and refining the parameters for the future permanent mechanism over the coming year. Chair, as you can see, this is not close to our ideal report, but we recognize that you and your team have made every effort to put together a consensus product. The United States is committed to working collaboratively within the OEWG to ensure a seamless transition to a single-track future permanent mechanism. In the spirit of cooperation, we are pleased to join consensus on this text, which charts a course for our discussions in 2025. Thank you to my fellow delegates for your collaboration this week, and thank you again, Chair, for your tireless efforts.

Chair:
Thank you very much, United States, for your statement. I see no other requests for the floor at this stage. And… Oh, I see the European Union has requested for the floor. EU, please.

European Union:
Mr. Chair, following an intensive week of discussions, I would like to thank you and your team for your hard work on the third annual progress report, as well as throughout the week on previous drafts. We genuinely appreciate all the efforts that have been made to capture the wide range of views expressed by delegations in the discussions over the last days and even year. We agree with you, Chair, that the path to consensus was extremely narrow, as there were diverse views, priorities, and competing positions expressed by delegations. The EU and its member states regret several of the elements included in the APR, including the emphasis on developing norms, the lack of progress reflected on international law, notably IHL, as well as several elements in the RID Annex, notably the emphasis on developing new legally binding obligations in paragraph 9. At the same time, we understand that making further improvements could set off a cycle of counter amendments that could swiftly unravel the finely balanced document you presented. Therefore, the EU welcomes its adoption by consensus. We congratulate you personally, as well as your team, on guiding us towards the adoption of such a rich progress report. You have allowed us to take a big step forward and to agree an APR that is a solid basis for further work next year to ensure a seamless transition to a single-track future permanent mechanism. We are grateful for your leadership in bridging positions and acknowledging the interests of the EU and its Member States. We also would like to thank the representatives from regional organizations, civil society, research institutions, and the private sector who shared their valuable expertise and inspiration both inside and outside this room. Finally, yet importantly, our profound thanks go to colleagues who have supported our discussions from behind the scenes, the secretariat, services, and interpreters. Thank you.

Chair:
Thank you very much, European Union, for your statement. I see no other requests for the floor, and we have therefore concluded consideration of Agenda Item 6, which is Other Matters. We will now go to the closing of the session, and we have now completed our deliberations for this session, and please allow me to make a few closing remarks as Chair of the Working Group. First, I want to express my deep thanks to my team. They are seated behind me. I think you know most of them, all of them, I think. Julian, Clarice, Matthew, and Philip, can I invite them to rise, please? I’m very fortunate to have a gold standard team at the podium and Gillian, Clarice and Matthew have been wonderful. Philip is an intern, he’s still in school but we have made him work this week. Second I also want to express my deep gratitude to the support we have received from the UN Secretariat, Sonia, Catherine and Gina. They are also on the podium, please join me in giving them a round of applause. And my thanks also to the conference room officers for their support. I think they are seated by the room, sound engineers and the interpreters for all their hard work throughout the week and also at previous sessions, my deep gratitude to them. Now distinguished delegates, thank you very much for all your show of support to all those who have made this session and the OEWG process a very smooth one. Distinguished delegates, I want to say that the adoption of the Third Annual Progress Report, which is rich, substantive, ambitious, concrete and action oriented, is really the result of your hard work, your ideas and your ambition. My role was simply to be here at the podium, to use the gavel from time to time. and to urge and encourage each one of you to go further than your comfort zone. I remember when we issued the zero draft for the third annual progress report, the feedback we received was that this is a very ambitious document. Indeed, this is the feedback we get every year. But each time, I tell my team that we are not putting together our ambition, but rather we are putting together elements of ideas and proposals that you have put forward. So in other words, if the draft was ambitious, it was your ambition, your vision, and your hope for this process that we had tried to put together in the zero draft and that we shepherded through revision after revision until we were able to cross the finishing line. So each one of you have contributed to the report in a very significant way, and I want to express my gratitude. Second, I do take note of the expressions of disappointment and regret, and the fact that this document is perhaps less than what each one of you might have hoped for, but collectively, and the fact that we have been able to adopt it by consensus, is a very powerful document because it shows that multilateralism works. It shows that the United Nations can be relevant and meaningful in some of the most important areas of our times, of which ICT security is certainly one of them. Now, thirdly, the fact that we have adopted three annual progress reports in a row, creates a certain positive trajectory for this process. If we had adopted one annual progress report, it could be attributed to chance. If we had adopted two annual progress reports by consensus, it could be attributed to coincidence. But adopting three annual progress reports consecutively by consensus in this working group is an indication that we are seeing the beginnings of a positive cycle and a positive trajectory of engagement and progress. This frankly is a result of your engagement, your commitment, your participation to this process and this beginnings of a positive trajectory creates a strong foundation for a seamless transition to a future permanent mechanism. And that’s my fourth point, that today we have taken a small step forward by adopting this third annual progress report, but in some ways we have also taken a step into the future, into the future permanent mechanism, because the third annual progress report gives us the framework and the foundation to begin the seamless transition to a future permanent mechanism. Of course, the adoption of the third annual progress report also revealed that there is a lot that remains to be done in terms of the modalities for the future permanent mechanism. And we have agreed on these outstanding modalities in the third annual progress report on which work would have to continue. as well as other modalities that may be needed and adopted by consensus. So there’s a lot of work that lies ahead. And that’s just part of the institutional design of the Future Permanent Mechanism, which is very significant because it is not often at the UN that we engage in institution building, creating new institutions and foundations for the future. And so each one of you can be very proud of having participated in this historic and unique opportunity to lay the foundations for the Future Permanent Mechanism. So we began that seamless transition today, and there’s a lot of work that needs to be done in the remaining periods on this mandate. Fifthly, beyond the institutional dimension, we have a lot of other work to do in terms of implementation of the global POC directory. We have the six-monthly ping test. We have the global simulation that needs to be carried out in partnership with interested states and UN entities. Plus, we need to start work on our final report. Now, the final report itself will require some degree of reflection as to how we want to do it, how do we approach it, do we approach it like the last three annual progress reports, or do we take a different approach, or do we combine different parts to produce a final report? These are all questions I have in my own mind, and I’ll give some thought to that. And I will also sit down with my team to work out a timeline and schedule of meetings, knowing that a lot of delegations, especially smaller delegations and those who are based in New York, already have a full, hectic calendar of meetings, especially those who are experts in the disarmament area. It’s a relentless cycle of meetings. So I’ll have to see how I can sequence and organize meetings, intersessionals, and other virtual consultations, town halls, in order to get the work done. But what we know already is that we will have a session in December and March and July. So that is, in some ways, the annual cycle. And then we need to think of what we need to put in between these three substantive sessions in terms of the work that we need to do. As always, my team and I will be very open to ideas, suggestions, and reflections. And at this last phase, I must confess I’m tempted to just sit back and relax and let you do all the heavy lifting. So how much work gets done in the remaining time is in your hands. We can do as much as you like, and as much as there is appetite, and as much as there is room for consensus, knowing that we will not be able to agree on everything. But we also need to keep in mind that if we want a seamless transition to the new mechanism, we need to keep the momentum. Because we can’t wait for the new mechanism to be completely set up before we start doing certain things. For example, the global POC directory will have to be kept alive. We need to get more countries on board. I think we already have 103, I believe, as of this week. Five, 105. We need to keep that going with the six-monthly test. So there’s a lot of work also for the Secretariat in terms of writing the report. So this is a time for all of you to share your ideas with each other and with me and my team. There’s another thing I’d like to suggest to all of you in this last phase of the process. I won’t keep you here for long. I know that it’s Friday, but I also know that the sunset isn’t until 8.30. But in any case, we’ll have to vacate the room by 6. But I also want to tell my appeal to each one of you. Please go beyond your very specific bubbles of groups and comfort zones. I think in this process over the last four years, I have seen different groups being formed, and that’s a good thing. But I’d like to see more cross-regional groups, more groups that crosses the aisle, that crosses the divides. And it’s good to have like-minded groups. There are two of them, at least. But it’s also good to have groups that reaches out across the regions, across spectrums. across views, because it’s really important that you start talking to people who are not just like-minded, but also who have a different view. Whether it is the most challenging issues of international law, international humanitarian law, or implementation of norms, or whether we need new norms and what kind of new norms, what could be new norms, these are important conversations and you need to start having those conversations outside your usual comfortable networks of friends who hold similar views. So that’s my appeal to you, less internal coordination and more reaching out to delegations and groups from outside your usual network and circles. And please put forward proposals, please put forward ideas that this process could take up, could discuss, and let’s see how much we can do next year. So with those comments, I hope I’m not forgetting anything. Those are the key points that I wanted to mention to you, once again my personal gratitude to each one of you for your friendship, for your kindness, for your patience, for your support, and of course for your extreme, extreme show of flexibility, especially at this session this week. So the meeting is adjourned, and I wish you all a pleasant journey home, wherever that may be. Thank you very much. The meeting is now adjourned.