Federal Department of Foreign Affairs FDFA
Directorate of Political Affairs DP
Division for Security Policy DSP
Amb. Jürg Lauber
Chair of the UN Open-ended working group on developments in the field of information and
telecommunications in the context of international security, 2019/2020
Bern, 9 April 2020
UN Open-ended working group on developments in the field of information and
telecommunications in the context of international security, 2019/2020
Written feedback by Switzerland to the first pre-draft report of the OEWG
Dear Mr. Chair, dear Jürg,
Thank you very much for consulting us on the pre-draft report of the OEWG. We would like to
express our appreciation to you, your team and the Secretariat for the continued efforts to a
successful completion of the work of the OEWG. We acknowledge that it is a challenging task
to try to reflect the various points of view brought forward in the OEWG and would like to
congratulate you and your team for your remarkable efforts to comprehensively reflect the
discussions. We would like to express our support for the pre-draft as a basis for the report of
the OEWG. Please find below our feedback, thoughts and considerations, which we hope will
be helpful to you for the preparation of the report.
I. General remarks
Switzerland is particularly committed to building and ensuring an open, free, secure, stable,
accessible and peaceful cyberspace, which furthers protection and enjoyment of human rights,
enables economic development and contributes to sustaining peace. It is in our common
interest to ensure that cyberspace is governed by the rule of law and used in a peaceful way.
Ensuring that existing rules of international law are applied and respected in cyberspace is a
key priority for Switzerland. We welcome the progress and work achieved by the UNGGEs
reflected in the three consensus reports of 2010, 2013 and 2015. They confirm that
international law applies to the activities of States in cyberspace. It is crucial for the report of
the OEWG to highlight that the GGE reports reflect consensus between States and are the
starting point and basis for discussion (“acquis”), as they establish the framework for
responsible behavior of States in cyberspace based on international law, voluntary norms,
confidence-building measures and capacity building. States agreed that the work of the OEWG
should be based on this consensus and that there should be no “rolling back”, but rather
progress in operationalising the framework.
When referring to the outcomes of the past GGE reports, it is important to carefully reflect
agreed language throughout the report, such as for example that the UN Charter is applicable
“in its entirety”.
In our view, the pre-draft overall gives an objective and accurate picture of the discussions at
the OEWG. At the same time, due to the wording chosen at the beginning of several
paragraphs or the lack of consistent use of qualifier language respectively, we believe that the
nuanced discussions led at the OEWG are not always fully reflected and not all aspects or
viewpoints brought forward by delegations are presented equally. We suggest that the
language chosen in the report be streamlined bearing this in mind.
Directorate of Political Affairs DP
Division for Security Policy DSP