cooperation with Member States, as well as with public and private sector partners and other relevant international bodies to ensure coordination of efforts and avoid duplications. EU cyber capacity building should continue to focus on the Western Balkans and in the EU’s neighbourhood, as well as on partner countries experiencing a rapid digital development. The EU efforts should support the development of legislation and policies of partner countries in line with relevant EU cyber diplomacy policies and standards. In this context, EU capacity building efforts in the field of digitalisation should include cybersecurity as a standard feature. To this end, the EU should develop a training programme dedicated to EU staff in charge of the implementation of EU digital and cyber external capacity building efforts. The EU should also assist these countries in tackling the growing challenge of malicious cyber activities that harm the development of their societies and the integrity and security of democratic systems, in line with the efforts under the European Democracy Action Plan. Peer-to-peer learning between EU Member States as well as relevant EU agencies and third countries could be particularly useful in this respect. Finally, within the context of the 2018 Civilian CSDP Compact117, civilian CSDP missions can also contribute to the EU’s wider response to tackle cyber security challenges, notably by strengthening the rule of law within, as well as law-enforcement and civilian administrations’ capabilities of, partner countries. Strategic initiatives The EU should:  Define a set of objectives in international standardisation processes, and promote these at international level;  Advance international security and stability in cyberspace, notably through the proposal by the EU and its Member States for a Programme of Action to Advance Responsible State Behaviour in Cyberspace (PoA) in the United Nations;  Offer practical guidance on the application of human rights and fundamental freedoms in cyberspace;  Better protect children against child sexual abuse and exploitation, as well as a Strategy on the Rights of the Child;  Strengthen and promote the Budapest Convention on Cybercrime, including through the work on the Second Additional Protocol to the Budapest Convention;  Expand EU cyber dialogue with third countries, regional and international organisations, including through an informal EU Cyber Diplomacy Network;  Reinforce the exchanges with the multi-stakeholder community, notably by regular and structured exchanges with the private sector, academia and civil society; and  Propose an EU External Cyber Capacity Building Agenda and an EU Cyber Capacity Building Board. 117 https://data.consilium.europa.eu/doc/document/ST-14611-2019-INIT/en/pdf 23