Session
Organizer 1: James Shires, European Cyber Conflict Research Initiative (ECCRI)
Organizer 2: Fasya Teixeira, Centre for Humanitarian Dialogue
Organizer 3: Elena Rückheim, Centre for Humanitarian Dialogue
Organizer 4: Nadher Alsafvani , Humanitarian Dialogue Center
Speaker 1: Bassant Hassib, Civil Society, African Group
Speaker 2: James Shires, Civil Society, Western European and Others Group (WEOG)
Speaker 3: Droz Serge, Government, Western European and Others Group (WEOG)
Speaker 4: Noora Fetais, Government, Intergovernmental Organization
Nadher Alsafvani , Civil Society, Western European and Others Group (WEOG)
Elena Rückheim, Civil Society, Intergovernmental Organization
Fasya Teixeira, Civil Society, Intergovernmental Organization
Roundtable
Duration (minutes): 90
Format description: This workshop - a 90 minute roundtable - with an inclusive format and appropriate duration is consistent with the IGF’s core objectives of fostering open dialogue, encouraging variety, and addressing global Internet governance issues. The session structure supports open communication and active participation while ensuring that discussion is focused and productive by bringing together different stakeholders to discuss complex issues, share knowledge and collaborate on solutions. A session length of 90 minutes is necessary to address key cases of cyber diplomacy from both regions - Europe and the Middle East - and to allow time for speakers to give in-depth remarks while also permitting extensive discussion. The last 20 minutes of this time are reserved for the interactive quickfire element, which will contribute significantly to the session summary and bring in the perspectives of those unable to contribute to the earlier discussion in the time available.
A. How can diplomatic organizations raise internal awareness among staff and other diplomatic practitioners regarding the relevance of internet governance to peace and development, especially the contribution of a free, open, secure and stable internet to international security and stability? B. How can cyber diplomacy in the Middle East, especially capacity-building to diversify and expand internet governance, contribute more effectively to sustainable development and help to prevent conflict? C.What are the major obstacles preventing effective cyber diplomacy at regional and global levels, especially regarding technical or policy contributions from civil society and private sector stakeholders in developing countries?
What will participants gain from attending this session? Participants will see a real example of cyber diplomatic processes and their implementation, provided by organizations, such as the Centre for Humanitarian Dialogue, that are leaders in the field and have rarely engaged with the internet governance community in the past. Rather than just presenting ideas, this workshop demonstrates “cyber diplomacy in action” including the tools, such as communication platforms, used in the implementation in cases from both Europe and the Middle East. These examples give concrete substance to common concepts such as “confidence-building measures” or “interstate information sharing”, helping participants apply these concepts more effectively in their own organizations and fields. Finally, participants will understand better the obstacles to effective cyber diplomacy, especially the role of some national regulatory frameworks in inhibiting private sector or civil society participation in cyber diplomacy. Through this understanding, participants can then develop strategies to overcome these obstacles in productive and principled ways.
Description:
This workshop focuses on subtheme 2: “enhancing the digital contribution to peace, development, and sustainability”. Although the digital contribution to peace, development, and sustainability is multifaceted, this workshop examines a core component of internet governance: the growing field of “cyber diplomacy” in the Middle East region. The concept of cyber diplomacy incorporates both how diplomatic organizations tackle digital issues - including internet governance - and how other stakeholders, such as the private sector and civil society, engage in international negotiations and agreements. As such, this workshop brings together experts from civil society, academia, the private sector, and government to share their visions for cyber diplomacy and how it can help to secure peace and accelerate development. This workshop takes the innovative approach of a structured case comparison, bringing together experts from the Middle East - and especially Gulf - region with their counterparts in Europe. Countries in both regions have developed significant cybersecurity capacity in recent years, but there remain substantial gaps in both knowledge and expectation for how diplomatic organizations engage with internet governance issues, and vice versa: how the internet governance community - especially private sector and civil society - works most effectively with diplomats in these regions to incentivize and implement diplomatic initiatives and mechanisms. The workshop will deliver concrete impact for participants, including practical strategies for improving cyber diplomacy capacity in relevant organizations, avenues for cyber diplomacy to contribute more effectively to conflict prevention and mitigation, and a “troubleshooting” guide to overcoming common obstacles in building cyber diplomacy capacity. The session will end with an interactive “quickfire” element, canvassing participants on their views on the major challenges facing cyber diplomacy and asking them to develop short-, medium, and long-term actions for securing peace and accelerating development through cyber diplomacy that they can implement in their organizations.
This session has three expected outcomes, to be shared as a session summary with all participants and made publicly available on a suitable webpage: First, it will identify concrete strategies for diplomatic organizations to raise levels of awareness among their staff regarding the vital contribution of effective internet governance to international peace and security. These strategies will include the dissemination of relevant resources and sharing suitable sources of expertise or training. Second, it will help participants better understand the role of cyber diplomacy in the lead-up to and during conflict, leading to follow-up meetings on the potential for cyber diplomacy to protect core internet infrastructure during conflict, and by doing so limit the impact of conflicts on civilians. Third, it will develop a list of potential obstacles to effective cyber diplomacy stemming from a lack of opportunity or resources, as well as ways to overcome those obstacles.
Hybrid Format: Our plan for ensuring productive hybrid participation begins well before the session starts. All speakers will participate in pre-session briefings together, to share questions and key talking points and ensure speaking times are evenly weighted between online and offline speakers. The onsite and online moderators will curate the speaker order and moderator interventions to ensure a coherent flow and seamless transition between speakers for online and onsite participants. At the start of the discussion session, the onsite moderator will reiterate all available modes of intervention for online participants, and the online moderator will flag questions in chat, Q&A, and raised hands modes for those who wish to intervene directly to the onsite moderator - with a preference for the latter, including video and audio if possible. In the quickfire session, the moderators will use freely available online tools, such as LimeSurvey or Mentimeter, or native integrations for major platforms.