those considering the principle of sovereignty as an independent right and the respect to
sovereignty as an independent obligation.
The Czech Republic firmly believes that under this principle States may freely exercise
without interference in any form by another State both aspects of sovereignty in cyberspace,
be it an internal one, with the exclusive jurisdiction over the ICTs located on its territory, or
the external one, including the determination of its foreign policy, subject only to obligations
under international law.
The Czech Republic considers the following cyber operations in a State’s territory as
violation of its sovereignty, if attributable to another State:
A. a cyber operation causing death or injury to persons or significant physical damage;
B. a cyber operation causing damage to or disruption of cyber or other infrastructure
with a significant impact on national security, economy, public health or
environment;
C.a cyber operation interfering with any data or services which are essential for the
exercise of inherently governmental functions, and thereby significantly disrupting
the exercise of those functions; for example, distributing ransomware which encrypts
the computers used by a government and thus significantly delaying the payment of
retirement pensions ;
D. cyber operation against a State or entities or persons located therein, including
international organisations, conducted by a physically present organ of another State;
International Human Rights
Second, the Czech Republic also recognizes that the rights of states to exercise exclusive
jurisdiction over the ICTs located on its territory gives rise not only to rights but also
obligations. In particular, the Czech Republic wishes to reiterate that international human rights
law is applicable to cyberspace in its entirety.
Indeed, the same rights that people have offline must also be protected online, in particular
freedom of expression, which is applicable regardless of frontiers and through any media of
one’s choice, in accordance with article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and
of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR).
Furthermore, the Czech Republic reiterates that freedom of peaceful assembly and of
association, enshrined in Article 22 of the ICCPR, applies to cyberspace as much as it applies
to the physical domain.