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open and interoperable cyberspace underpinned by applicable international law, welldefined norms of responsible State behaviour, robust confidence -building measures
and coordinated capacity-building. It is important that discussions on such laws, rules
and norms continue to take place at the United Nations, which is the only universal,
inclusive and multilateral forum where all States have an equal voice.
Singapore participated in the Group of Governmental Experts on Advancing
Responsible State Behaviour in Cyberspace in the Context of I nternational Security
for the period from 2019 to 2021 and the recently concluded Open -Ended Working
Group established pursuant to General Assembly resolution 73/27. We remain
committed to contributing constructively to the United Nations work to develop and
implement norms and rules on cybersecurity and will continue to participate actively
in future United Nations processes. In our view, it is important for future
cybersecurity discussions at the United Nations to take into account a wide range of
views, especially from small States and developing countries that are particularly
vulnerable to the effects of cyberconflict. To this end, any future United Nations
process on cybersecurity should be open, inclusive and collaborative to further
strengthen international cooperation and make progress on advancing responsible
State behaviour in cyberspace. As a co-chair of the Group of Friends on e-Governance
and Cybersecurity with Estonia, Singapore will continue to use this platform to raise
awareness of cyberchallenges, share best practices and promote capacity -building at
the United Nations.
Singapore believes that States need to promote awareness of the existing
voluntary, non-binding norms of responsible State behaviour and support their
implementation. Singapore supports further elaboration of such norms where needed.
For example, cross-border critical information infrastructure, of which their
protection is the shared responsibility of all Member States, coul d be considered a
special category of such critical infrastructure and should be included in the existing
set of norms, as ICT threats to such infrastructure could have destabilizing effects
regionally and globally. 2
Regional organizations can play an important role. The Association of Southeast
Asian Nations (ASEAN) reaffirmed the need for a rules-based international order in
cyberspace in the first ASEAN leaders’ statement on cybersecurity cooperation,
issued in April 2018. In September 2018, participants in the third ASEAN Ministerial
Conference on Cybersecurity decided to subscribe in principle to the 11 norms in the
2015 report of the Group of Governmental Experts, as well as to focus on regional
capacity-building in implementing these norms. In October 2019, participants in the
fourth ASEAN Ministerial Conference on Cybersecurity decided to establish a
working-level committee to consider the development of a long -term regional action
plan to ensure effective and practical implementation of the norms , including in the
areas of cooperation among computer emergency response teams, protection of
critical information infrastructure and mutual assistance in cybersecurity. Participants
in the fifth ASEAN Ministerial Conference on Cybersecurity, held in 2020, reiterated
the commitment of ASEAN to develop an action plan to chart the implementation
road map for the norms at an appropriate pace for all ASEAN member States.
Participants also agreed on the urgent need to protect national and cross -border
critical information infrastructures.
Capacity-building is essential to ensure that individual States develop the ability
to successfully implement the norms of responsible State behaviour and their
obligations under international law. As part of this effort, Sing apore established the
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2
22/46
Cross-border critical information infrastructures are critical information infrastructures owned by
private companies and operating across national bord ers, but not under any single State’s
jurisdiction.
21-10045
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