UNCLASSIFIED
as well as in ensuring that States’ human rights obligations are taken into account. The inclusion
of non-State stakeholders greatly enhances the quality of our First Committee discussions, and
strengthens the prospects for publicising and implementing our outcomes. For example, it is
critical that we coordinate with—and receive input from—the private sector, which develops,
controls, and operates the majority of global ICTs. At the same time, we must hear from and
speak with civil society actors—including academia—who bring to the table a wide range of
insights, including local perspectives, technical know-how, legal understandings and a humancentred focus.
•
Future mechanism: Canada will continue to advocate for the creation of an inclusive, actionoriented UN cyber Program of Action (PoA) that will help States implement the acquis,
coordinate capacity building efforts and better integrate the voices of non-State actors. In line
with our objectives for stakeholder participation in the OEWG process, Canada believes that
constructive participation of non-State stakeholders in an eventual PoA could provide insightful
and valuable input into that group’s work. We also believe that non-State stakeholders could
play a significant role in the practical work of national and regional implementation efforts when
it comes to implementing the acquis of past UN cyber processes. Canada will therefore continue
to advocate for the creation of the PoA at the OEWG and elsewhere.
These are only examples of possible issues that Canada will likely raise at the 2021-25 OEWG. We
believe that these proposals would lay the groundwork for the development of further practical
approaches to expanding and implementing the acquis of past GGEs and of the recent OEWG. It would
allow the 2021-25 OEWG to take stock of existing work done by the international community in these
areas, to identify gaps and to explore avenues for future cooperation. We hope that the 2021-25 OEWG
can reach a consensus report that incorporates some of the proposals outlined above, in order to keep
the momentum going and build on the achievements of the last two consensus GGE reports and of the
recent OEWG.
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