Through resolution 73/27, the General Assembly established an Open-Ended Working Group (OEWG), in which all UN Member States are invited to participate. The Group will convene for the first time in 2019 and report back to the General Assembly in 2020. The OEWG process also provides the possibility of holding intersessional consultative meetings with industry, non-governmental organizations and academia.
Ambassador Jürg Lauber of Switzerland was elected by acclamation to Chair the Open-ended Working Group.
Schedule of meetings
- Organizational session – New York, 3-4 June 2019 (CR4)
- First substantive session – New York, 9-13 September 2019 (CR4) – WEBCAST ( Please use Internet Explorer for optimal viewing inside UNHQ network )
- Intersessional meeting with Industry Partners and NGOs – New York, 2-4 Dec 2019 (CR1)
- Second substantive session – New York, 10-14 February 2020 2020 – WEBCAST ( Please use Internet Explorer for optimal viewing inside UNHQ network )
- Third (and final) substantive session – New York TBC
Documents of the second round of informal meetings of the OEWG (29 September – 1 October 2020)
- OEWG Chair’s letter on the second round of informal meetings (2 September 2020)
- Draft Programme of Work of the second round of informal meetings (2 September 2020)
Chair’s letter on the new roadmap for the work of the OEWG (16 July 2020)
Documents of the first round of informal meetings of the OEWG (15 June – 19 June 2020)
- OEWG Chair’s letter on informal virtual meetings (27 May 2020)
- OEWG Chair’s Draft PoW for the informal virtual meetings (27 May 2020)
- Revised pre-draft of the OEWG report (27 May 2020)
- Revised non-paper (27 May 2020)
Statements / contributions delivered by Member States
- Joint contribution – Programme of Action
- Australia [Research Paper on Regular Institutional Dialogue]
- Bangladesh
- Iran (Islamic Republic of) [1 Oct 2020]
- Cuba [15 June 2020] [19 June 2020] [29 Sept 2020] [1 Oct 2020]
- Finland
- Russian Federation
Comments by Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) on the revised pre-draft of the OEWG report
- Kaspersky (1) (2) (Sept 2020 submission) (Sept 2020 Annex)
Chair’s letter on extending the mandate of the OEWG (5 June 2020)
Chair’s letter and initial pre-draft of the OEWG report (27 April 2020)
- OEWG Chair’s letter of 27 April 2020
- OEWG Chair’s letter of 1 April 2020 – Extension of the deadline for written submissions to 16 April
- OEWG Chair’s letter of 16 March 2020 – Update on intersessional consultations and request for written submissions to the OEWG Pre-draft by 3 April
- OEWG Chair’s letter of 11 March 2020
- Initial Pre-draft of the OEWG report
- Non-paper
Comments by Member States on the initial pre-draft of the OEWG report
- Argentina (Spanish) (English)
- Armenia
- Australia
- Austria
- Belarus
- Brazil
- Canada (English) (French) ( attachment (French) )
- Chile
- China
- Colombia
- Cuba
- Czech Republic
- Denmark
- Ecuador
- Egypt
- Estonia
- France ( French ) ( English )
- Germany
- Indonesia
- Iran
- Ireland
- Italy
- Japan
- Liechtenstein
- Mexico
- Netherlands
- New Zealand
- Nicaragua
- Norway
- Pakistan
- Republic of Korea
- Russian Federation ( Russian ) , ( English )
- Serbia
- Singapore
- South Africa
- Sweden
- Switzerland
- Thailand
- Turkey
- United Kingdom
- United States
- Uruguay ( Spanish ) ( English )
- Venezuela
- Zimbabwe
- EU
- The Non-Aligned Movement
- Joint Proposal by a number of Member States under the initiative of Australia and Mexico
- Joint Proposal by a number of Member States on the Protection of Health Infrastructure
Comments by Inter-Governmental Organizations (IGOs) on the pre-draft of the OEWG report
- The Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe ( attachment 1 ; attachment 2 )
- The International Committee of the Red Cross ( attachment )
Comments by Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) on the pre-draft of the OEWG report
- Access Now ( Annex )
- Centre for Internet & Global Politics of the Cardiff University
- Centre for Internet & Society
- CyberPeace Institute
- DiploFoundation
- Global Forum on Cyber Expertise
- Global Partners Digital
- ICT4Peace Foundation
- Internet Society ( attachment )
- International Chamber of Commerce
- Kaspersky
- Microsoft (1) and (2)
- National Law University Delhi’s Centre for Communication Governance
- Search Skate
- Stimson Center
- Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom
- Joint submission by 12 Civil Society Organizations
Documents of the Organizational Session of the OEWG (3-4 June 2019)
– Provisional agenda ( A/AC.290/2019/1 )
– Note by the secretariat on the organization of work of the OEWG
Documents of the first substantive session of the OEWG (9-13 September 2019)
– Note by the secretariat on the organization of work of the first substantive session
– OEWG Chair’s letter to Member States on the First Substantive Session
Documents of the informal intersessional consultative meeting of the OEWG with industry, non-governmental organizations and academia (2-4 December 2019)
Informal multi-stakeholder meeting (2-4 December 2019)
- OEWG Chair’s letter to the Member States for the intersessional meeting (1 November, 2019)
- Chairs’ letter to the Participants of the OEWG informal intersessional consultative meeting (26 November, 2019)
- Calendar of Side Events
- OEWG Chair’s letter on the summary report of the informal intersessional consultative meeting from 2-4 December 2019 (28 January, 2020)
Documents of the second substantive session of the OEWG (10-14 February 2020)
The official statements of the OEWG meetings are available on PaperSmart.
- OEWG Chair’s letter to Member States on the second substantive session (31 December 2019)
- Chair’s working paper for the second substantive session
- Draft Programme of Work for the second substantive session
- Tentative draft structure of the report (substantive component)
- Background paper on existing UN bodies and processes related to the mandate
- Background paper on International Law in the GGEs
- Background paper on Regular institutional dialogue
- OEWG Chair’s letter to Member States for the second substantive session (4 February 2020)
- Draft Organization of Work of the second substantive session (available in six languages)
Statements by Non-Governmental Organizations during the informal multi-stakeholder segment (12 February 2020)
- Access Now
- Association for Progressive Communications
- ICT4Peace
- Media Foundation for West Africa
- Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom
Working Papers submitted by Member States
- Australia
- Canada
- Proposal for the report of the 2019-20 OEWG ( En ) ( Fr )
- Canada’s implementation of the 2015 GGE norms ( En ) ( Fr )
- Canada’s responses to OEWG Chair’s questions
- Canada’s commissioned research on gender and cyber Sarah Shoker (Fr) ; Executive Summary (En) (Fr)
- Canada’s commissioned research on gender and cyber: Allison Pytlak and Deborah Brown ( Executive Summary )(Fr)
- China ( En ) ( Ch )
- Croatia, Finland, France and Slovenia
- Cuba (En) (Sp)
- Egypt
- EU
- Iran ( first submission ) ( second submission )
- Japan
- Mexico ( Proposal ) (Proposal: Study of the ILC on the applicability of international law in cyberspace)
- Mexico Australia proposal
- Netherlands (Annex 1) (Annex 2) (Annex 3) (Annex 4)
- New Zealand
- Pakistan
- Republic of Korea
- Switzerland
- United Kingdom (first submission) (second submission)
Informal Papers submitted by Inter-Governmental Organizations (IGOs)
– Position paper of the International Committee of the Red Cross on International Humanitarian Law and Cyber Operations during Armed Conflicts
– Position paper by the Secretariat of the Internet Governance Forum
Informal papers submitted by Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs)
– ICT4Peace Foundation Submission to UN Negotiations on Cybersecurity (OEWG) in New York (9 – 13 September 2019)
– ICT4Peace Foundation Submission: “States Cyber Peer Review Mechanism”
– ICT4Peace Foundation Submission: “Critical Infrastructure and Offensive Cyber Operations: A Call to Governments”
– Global Commission on the Stability of Cyberspace (GCSC) Submission to the members of the OEWG: Advancing Cyberstability – Final Report (November 2019)
– Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom and Association for Progressive Communications Submission: “Why Gender Matters in International Cyber Security”
NGO accreditation
– To find out more about NGO accreditation to attend the second substantive session of the Open-ended Working Group, click here.
– Note Verbale by the secretariat regarding technical extension of review period NGO accreditation
– Note Verbale by the secretariat regarding the outcome of non-objection procedure for attendance of NGOs at the Open-ended Working Group meeting (9-13 September 2019)
– Note Verbale by the secretariat regarding the accreditation of NGOs at the second substantive session of the Open-ended Working Group (10-14 February 2020)
Please check this page for updates.