The following are the outputs of the captioning taken during an IGF virtual intervention. Although it is largely accurate, in some cases it may be incomplete or inaccurate due to inaudible passages or transcription errors. It is posted as an aid, but should not be treated as an authoritative record.
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>> SOLOMON KASSA: I'm Solomon Kassa, a senior technology advisor and strategist. I'll be your moderator for this panel. Our digital security is under threat, malicious actors are targeting the infrastructures of hospital, airports, there are devastating human consequences with severe attacks that have evolved in scope, sophistication and targets, the Internet is literally a virtual battleground or battlefield.
Internet crime report highlights in the U.S. alone from the FBI, it received a record number of 847376 complaints from American public in 2021 which was 7% increase from 2020 with the potential losses exceeding 6.9 Billion Dollars.
In the past couple of year, COVID‑19 contributed to new cybersecurity threats, the need for acceleration of digitalization as well as investments in cybersecurity measures.
Cyberattacks have grown globally as well with sophistication, number and impact in 2021. The global cost of cybercrime is staggering. It exceeds $6 trillion that year alone, in 2021.
This is according to a remark by the head of the Italian firm for aerospace defense and security during a speech at cyber tech Europe, 2022 it conference in Rome. This is just the highlight of what's happening in the cyberspace in terms of security and trust.
With attacks like phishing, SME campaigns, malware, disinformation, misinformation, a ransomware, crypto crime, cybercrimes have been on the rise. Meanwhile, technologies like AI and blockchain have proved capable of both damaging and protecting the environment.
Several international efforts are underway to increase the global response to digital threats and develop norms, mechanisms and confidence building measures to boost trust and security in cyberspace.
On the climate side, the ITU has launched standards promoting green data centres, a coalition to produce the global eWaste monitor. As digitalization is a key driver of the UN Sustainable Development Goals considering all digital challenges is necessary. UN Secretary‑General Antonio Guterres has said looking to the future, two seismic shifts will shape the 21st Century, the climate crisis and Digital Transformation.
Enabling that transformation means getting digital risk, this session, it will be with a group of experts and distinguished panelists will explore gaps and barriers effecting digital trust and security in regional and global context translating to international norm frameworks to practical implementations and share Best Practices for enhancing collaboration and coordination among stakeholders to give cyber resilience and align digital trust and security principles with the 2030 Agenda.
To discuss these very critical aspects of the Internet we're so privileged to have a group of distinguished experts on this panel both in person and online hopefully who will share with us their insights and perspectives. I would like to invite those online to turn on their cameras at this point.
Before starting our session, I will briefly introduce our panelists.
Everybody is here? Okay. Toomas Hendrik, Former President of Estonia, and Co‑chair of the Global Futures Concil on Blockchain Technology/Member, IGF Leadership Panel he's joining us online.
Her Excellency Mufarihat Kamil, Minister of Labour and Skills of Ethiopia.
Emma Theofelus, Deputy Minister of Information and Communication Technology, Namibia.
Hiroshi Yoshida, Vice Minister for Policy Coorination, Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications of Japan.
Bella Cherkesova, Deputy Minister, Digital Development, Communications and Mass Media of the Russian Federation.
Weixiong Chen, Acting Executive Director, UN Counter‑Terrorism Executive Directorate, UNCTED.
Doreen Bogdan‑Martin, Secretary‑General‑elect, ITU.
Tara VanKessel, Assistant Director‑General for Communication and Information Nathaniel Fick, U.S. Ambassador at Large for Cyberspace and Digital Policy.
Remi Marechaux, Ambassador of France to Ethiopia.
I hope I said that right. I'm not a francophone!
Nathalie Jaarsma, Ambassador at Large for Security Policy and Cyber, Netherlands.
Mazuba Haanyama, Head of Human Rights Policy, Africa, the Middle East and Turkiye.
Chris Painter, Global Forum on Cybersecurity Expertise, GFCE.
Chris Sharrock, UN & International Organizations, Microsoft.
Thabo Mashegoane, Chairman, Africa ICT Alliance, AfiCTA.
Let's welcome our panelists with a round of applause, please.
[Applause]
A few housekeeping items before we dive into our great discussion: I would like to kindly inform and remind our great panelists that each of you will be given a minute and a half to give your responses. I'll keep an eye on my timer and I may kindly pause you to move on to the of next panelist. We also have our great colleague who will have a weapon the next few hours, that will put up the flag when you're almost done. I know you'll keep your responses to 90 seconds. After I read each question, I will call a panelist name to give responses.
With that, we're ready to kick it off.
So multistakeholder collaboration which you see here in display great fully, both in private and public is critical to safeguard our digital space. Our first question is what are the factors necessary for building digital trust and security between states and other key players? What are the best ways to build an international trust framework that accommodates differing geopolitical world view?
>> WEIXIONG CHEN: I'm glad I was asked to be the first speaker to respond. I may doze off due to the flight from New York.
You know, I see that we have a challenging situation here and we have more complex issues in this regard.
We see that there is a trust deficit between jurisdictions, not only for this but also there is the trust deficit between governmental agencies and the service providers.
Trust deficit between law enforcement agencies and Human Rights advocates. Also trust deficit between service providers and users. That's as complex when you talk about building trust between governments.
In this regard, we believe that the multistakeholders' collaboration, the private public partnership, all government, all Civil Society, all society approach will be key to achieve that goal.
The positive note is that the UN has this convening power, and it has already started on the long journey to explore various ways to build that common understanding and the path to consensus.
Back to you.
>> SOLOMON KASSA: Thank you so much.
>> Thank you so much.
Good afternoon, everybody, thanks to the host Government of Ethiopia for hosting us. It really is a pleasure to be here.
On building trust, let me start by saying that without trust in digital products, people won't use digital products. That means that societies cannot reap the benefits of digitalization and as we also heard this morning then it would have a negative impact on achieving the SDGs. Trust is crucial for achieving the Sustainable Development Goals.
Digital trust is the result of many factors, and relationships between different stakeholders and your question is specifically about states and building trust between states. I believe that starts with transparency. Transparency on, for example, the interpretation of international law, on national legislation, on its implementation, on intentions, on procedures that are in place in order to respect interests of other states and it also has to do withholding states accountable. There, I believe, that all stakeholders have a role to play.
Thank you.
>> SOLOMON KASSA: Thank you so much.
We have Nathaniel Fick online.
>> NATHANIEL FICK: Thank you. Thank you all very much.
I'm Nate Fick, my first IGF, I'm the new U.S. Ambassador for cyberspace and digital policy. You're right to focus on the word trust, trust is the currency of the digital domain. It is more important than ever.
We're connecting something like a billion devices per quarter to the Internet, that trend is accelerating. Organizations of all kinds are migrating to the cloud and the COVID pandemic accelerated trends around decentralization of people and their associated technologies in every enterprise.
This is more important than ever.
I will highlight two concrete factors in building digital trust and security. The first is adopting an inclusive, multistakeholder approach, I think that the multiis a holder term is especially important in this forum. My own background is as an Internet entrepreneur and technology investor and so I have a personal, advice rail appreciation for the importance of the private sector, and Civil Society organizations.
I think that durable consensus requires their engagement at every step.
The second factor, I point to the framework of responsible state behavior in cyberspace, which all ‑‑ I repeat all ‑‑ UN Member States have repeatedly affirmed as a foundation for building trust among states in cybersecurity. I challenge any of us to come up with anything on which all UN Member States would agree and sign today.
>> SOLOMON KASSA: Thank you so much.
Over to you.
>> CHRIS PAINTER: Thank you. Like the other speaker, I endorse everything they said. I was in the government and now I'm a multistakeholder, I have seen both sides of this.
In 30 years of doing cybersecurity, fighting cybercrime, which I have done in my career, I have seen the threats grow in sophistication, in number, and particularly in impact. Trust between countries is vitally important but it is also important to know as others have said, that countries are not the only players here. They're important players but civil society, the private sector hiation a role. That multistakeholder approach is important.
I will focus on an aspect that my organization does, GFCE, cyber capacity building, the way I look at capacity building, it is vitalal, foundational to all ‑‑ it is combating all of the bad things we have seen, the threats we have talked about this morning and now but achieving all of the good things. If we're going to achieve the SDGs, the positive things that the Internet has to offer, we have to engage in capacity building because states, focused on states for a second, if they can't meaningfully engage in the process, if they don't have the capabilities to secure and have resilience of their own systems, they won't be able to get anywhere. Capacity building really is a key underlying effort that my organization helps promote with members, both countries, Civil Society and private sector from around the world, and that collaboration between those parties to DAO capacity building, to under gird all of these things, including taking forward the norms goals is critically important.
I look forward to working with all of you.
>> SOLOMON KASSA: Thank you so much.
>> HIROSHI YOSHIDA: Thank you very much, Excellency, Ambassadors (Remi Marechaux) a joint vision in cybersecurity, that's important for all of us and a priority for my country, France. Trust and security goes through the international law, cooperation in the area of capacity building that's been mentioned is essential. I need to specify that ‑‑ sorry for having all of this ‑‑ ensuring that the Internet, it is guaranteed, ensure that we are secure with it. We need to ensure trust, and this is the gist of the conversation and the multistakeholder approach is important, the states, national organization, Civil Society, all platforms are collectively responsible. This is a method of inclusive work that we want to follow in a collective manner.
We have three initiatives in France, you know very well, that's working with New Zealand and then the Paris appeal on cybersecurity, all of these initiatives have a common point to mobilize all actors and ensure trust and guaranteeing security in cyberspace.
I thank you.
>> SOLOMON KASSA: Thank you, Ambassador.
I do believe that we have Bella Cherkesova object line. Over to you.
>> BELLA CHERKESOVA: Good morning, colleagues.
Yes, this is a very cute topic, and indeed, the global trust is the basis of any wonderful cooperation among countries, but it is only when the states share their principles. It is just like any sport, like soccer. Any country in the world follow the same soccer rules, and is including fair play. This is a sports version for global digital trust.
Unfortunately, currently during nowadays, we do not have any common rules. We do not have the foundation for the further development of global trust and security.
Our key actors such as states and the global digital platforms have their own understanding of what it is to behave correctly in the digital environment, and whatever works for one actor sometimes does not work for the others. We see sometimes private sector and corporations follow their own rules. It is obvious that the world is ‑‑ first of all, it is important for the countries that can ensure the trust and security in the Internet and safety as well. Antonio Guterres, General Secretary, Secretary‑General has spoken about that in his address last year. There is still tension in international cooperation and situations around certain countries around the world does not allow to begin the process of creating the framework for reaching a consensus.
The only way to build trust is to follow the principles of equality and respect sovereignty of the others.
We support cooperation with international organizations.
>> SOLOMON KASSA: Thank you, everyone, for your insightful perspective on this important element of finding collective, collaborative ways to make our space safer, more secure and trustworthy.
I would like to draw your attention to the crux of cyber norms with the next question.
How can stakeholders be more meaningfully involved in the development of cyber norms? What norms are necessary? How can the UN's norms on responsible state behavior in cyberspace be translated into practical steps?
We'll start with Mr. Tara VanKessel.
>> TAWFIK JELASSI: Thank you very much.
As you may know, the mandate of UNESCO is to pro note the free flow of information. How we do that, one way, capacity building through our programmes. Second, by setting up normative instruments for the 193 Member States.
Briefly let me mention two examples: Last year's UNESCO recommendation on the ethics of AI which has a component dealing with trust among others, but also respect of human dignity, respect of Human Rights, enforcing gender equality, but also the respect of the rule of law. Now we're heading towards another normative instrument through our next February conference which is called Internet for trust, regulating digital platforms to ensure information is a public good, not information becoming public hazard or public harm.
I mentioned this morning in my opening remarks some of the key factors of this conference intended to combat misinformation, disinformation, hate speech online, conspiracy theory, and the like.
Briefly put, this is what I would like to say at this stage.
Thank you.
>> SOLOMON KASSA: Thank you, Mr. Tara VanKessel.
Over to Chris Sharrock who is online.
>> CHRIS SHARROCK: Thank you very much. It is great to be able to join you.
So on the meaningful involvement of stakeholders in the development of cybersecurity norms, it has to be recognized that there are not many official avenues for participation.
Significant progress has been made over the past few years, and I would point in particular to the process that's been established by the Ad Hoc Committee on Cybercrime as a good practice that could be replicated in other discussions.
In addition to the processes established outside of the UN, such as the Paris call which the French Ambassador referred to, I would encourage stakeholders to become engaged in.
Beyond that, I just want to underline the importance of consulting with the multistakeholder community no matter what the official process says. In terms of practical steps, the multistakeholder community can be particularly involved in the implementation of norms.
A fantastic example here, it is an exercise that's been the work of the Oxford process where over 100 lawyers took the fairly general statement of international law applies and worked towards an agreement on what that means in specific context such as in the protection of elections.
Similarly, Microsoft worked with the Czech Republic on the CyberPeaces to develop a series of recommendations on how to implement the norm on protecting critical infrastructure in the healthcare context.
These types of activities are critical if we are to ensure that All States are able to implement agreed upon norms successfully.
>> SOLOMON KASSA: Thank you.
Appreciate it.
Next response from Your Excellency Mufarihat Kamil.
>> MUFARIHAT KAMIL: Thank you very much.
Good afternoon, good morning, good evening as everybody is trying to follow this platform from across the world.
This is a great opportunity for me to be here, and I would like to say welcome to Ethiopia. I'm Mufarihat Kamil, Minister of Labour and Skills of Ethiopia. I think the subject matter we're trying to deal with is about trust B digital trust, about the relationship between people. When we talk about trust and how we're going to engage stakeholders as to the expected level, to my understanding there must be a change in attitude about the issue, the matter.
We're trying to deal with the technological aspects, but I think there has to be a shift in a people‑centred approach as it is about relationships. It is about peace, collaboration, interdependence. If that is the case, we need to empower people starting from schools, through our education system, and bringing all the different stakeholders together, though we have so many norms and we can have the multistakeholder engagement, we can discuss at the end of the day what we designed. We have to have that multistakeholder engagement through a new way of thinking, taking the subject matter from, you know, technological ‑‑ or instead from protective measures to proactive measure rather through transformational measure, we can engage and empower the different stakeholders to come together so as to address the issue.
Thank you.
>> SOLOMON KASSA: Thank you, Your Excellency.
Next is over to her ex Her Excellency Emma Theofelus.
>> EMMA THEOFELUS: A good afternoon to everybody. I'm very happy to be here.
The first is to discuss what are norms. Norms are generally beliefs within a community. At a global level this requires every stakeholder in this global village of ours to have some type of belief in order to have some cyberspace norms.
The next question I would like to ponder is how are norms formed? If we are to form this norms, how are we to form them? Where do we derive them from? Who is able to adopt them? Further than that, who decides on these norms being written down and being applied? I think then coming to the answer to some of the questions would be that we need to have some type of consensus. There has to be some type of agreement between governments, the international organizations, private sector, stakeholders, on what are bottom line beliefs are. If it comes down to the person, we're talking about mutual respect, human dignity that had been spoken about here earlier.
I think that I'll end by saying, then in its application, there needs to be some consistent and proper, favorable application of international law.
Once that is done, when all of us have excepted those norms as universal to all of us, then they can be consistent with implementing and those norms succeeding.
>> SOLOMON KASSA: Thank you very much.
Next over to Ambassador.
>> NATHALIE JAARSMA: We encourage the multistakeholder approach on issues to do with digital cyberspace (Remi Marechaux) this seems to be within the process of the UN, experts government group on the Working Group.
This unfortunate adoption of the resolution for working program of the UN, on the 3rd of November, and it is the same for the states to face this challenge, we follow an aim of ensuring that the responsible use of ICT. In concrete times, this is a permanent mechanism which is inclusive and which drives towards action in the UN with aspects supporting state in the implementation of a framework through responsible behavior in the use of ITC, encouraging activities, capacity building secondly, promoting cooperation and dialogue between the stakeholders involved, thus the private sector, the academia, Civil Society to contribute to the implementation of this framework.
Thirdly, to give states a permanent forum to look at efforts for implementing this and discussing new challenges to International Security in the area of digital technology and implement different work through consensus.
This program would be coordinated with work done by the existing elements, this sort of process of the prior negotiation, we can't wait for working with All States in the next session, in this composition so that we can follow the implementation of this.
I thank you.
>> SOLOMON KASSA: Weixiong Chen, would you like to add UN's perspective on this matter?
>> WEIXIONG CHEN: Thank you very much.
In trust and also attacks activities, it is easier to say this than done.
We have been working on this for more than 30 years. We are still discussing about this.
At the time I was a young man, now I'm still talking about this, but I'm old ‑‑ still handsome, of course, my hair is gray right now.
I hope this discussion can lead to an international treaty. Since we don't have a definition of this situation, in the situation we still have a long time to go. This is a bumpy ride, but we do have some basic principles such as 19 international antiterrorism documents and more than ten Security Council's documents and guidelines, all of these can be our principles CTEC will continue to work on this.
>> SOLOMON KASSA: Over to you, what's your stands and perspective on this matter of Africa ICT alliance on this matter?
Over to you.
>> THABO MASHEGOANE: I think that at the core of it lies a cocreation and cocreation platform in an environment of mutual respect where all participants have got the same stature and they have got equality in being able to contribute.
We currently have a world cup, and one has to ask themselves, how did it happen that even the remostest of the countries are able to partake in an environment where they're equally looked at and they can fair play in this environment.
We need to learn from such, and to create the same platform with regards to through this creation of norms and also participation in that.
One ask with regards to the physical basic norms that are there that must be adopted, and the key is to actually put the human at the centre. The ones that deal with Human Rights, it is critical that those norms are the ones that are put at the centre. Once you deal with those, you are able to then cascade into either a bigger community and to fill that other aspect.
Implementation starts with the pledges, and then we have to go into complex in answering the question of what is the need for me, and making sure that everyone does implement that.
>> SOLOMON KASSA: Thank you so much.
Thank you.
We do have Mr. Toomas Hendrik online. Over to you, sir.
>> TOOMAS HENDRIK: Yes. Thank you very much. I'll try to be as brief.
My concern is that cyber norms are put before ‑‑ they have priority over common values. I think without common values, it is not really possible to develop cyber norms. There are countries and there are societies that are Freedom of Expression and there are others, countries, societies that have free, fair elections. There are multistakeholder groups such as the one I participate in, the trans Atlantic Commission of electoral integrity which makes sure that the democratic norms are followed.
There is no point in actually doing any of that if you do not have Freedom of Expression as society, there is no point in doing that, if you don't have free, fair elections.
So really, the fundamental rights and freedoms predate the discussions on norms because if you can't agree on the fundamentals, you can't really develop any meaningful norms.
Cybersecurity: No cybersecurity umbrella organization will work if you do not have a common set of interests in maintaining a common set of values. That's the way it is. There is no way to share information with countries that do not follow fundamental norms in an area that actually precedes the discussion of norms in cyberspace.
Ultimately, the norms of cyberspace should be in my point of view, I think much of the world, the norms of cyberspace are also the norms of a free Dynamic Coalition society.
Thank you.
>> SOLOMON KASSA: Thank you so much.
We do apologize, we do have a flag here, but online people won't be able to see it f I interrupt you, I do apologize in advance.
Appreciate all of the respondents for the great perspectives.
With that, we'll move on to the next question about climate crisis.
With that, climate crisis at the top of the global agenda as we know it, what approaches should we adopt to ensure technologies are part of the climate security solution and not the problem? How do we introduce greater accountability on those issues? Perhaps in areas of the more greener data centres, infrastructure, manufacturing, better recycling, a responsible mine, sensitive for some nations so, on, so as to give that reflection, I'll give it over to Hiroshi Yoshida first.
>> HIROSHI YOSHIDA: Good afternoon, everybody.
I'm very happy to join you here.
Digital technology can be a problem. It can be a threat to the Climate Change issues. For example, data traffic in our country has doubled since the outbreak of COVID‑19, and then there is an estimation that said in 2030 the consumption in the digital field would grow 36 times compared to now.
In 2050 there saying it will raise 4,000 times. It is just only for digital‑related field. It can double the whole nation in consumption by 2030.
We need to develop new technology. The solution to this can be beyond 5G technology, all 4G technology, they can reduce in the consumption to only 1%, to the existing technology and current. So we're now developing such new technology so that digital technology can be a process and on the other hand, it can be a solution.
One more thing, at the same time, how to use the digital technology is also important and spreading this to every corner of society to enable monitoring can build a resilient society to Climate Change and disaster.
>> SOLOMON KASSA: Thank you.
From our online speaker, Bella Cherkesova, over to you.
>> BELLA CHERKESOVA: The key question is how to use digital technologies to support developing countries, to support their economies in the context of neutrality. Given the recent COP27, I think it is important to highlight we need common efforts to improve access to technologies and technology exchanges between different countries and to improve coordination of global value chains and also we need to get rid of the barriers of ‑‑ of trade barriers.
For example, agriculture, it is an important player when it comes to greenhouse gases. We cannot solve the climate problem without including agriculture in the solution.
In order to improve the situation in agriculture, we need new technologies, and this will be our new objective, we'll use digital technologies for agriculture to improve its sustainability. In Russia, we have a number of projects in this respect, for example, we monitor greenhouse gases using spaceships which enables us to use digital innovations to mitigate the greenhouse gases and their effect on the nature.
In this complicated, international context which exists today, we need international organizations to create stability for states. I would like to remind you of the ITU and its leading role when it comes to digital technologies and communication.
Thank you.
>> SOLOMON KASSA: Thank you.
The same question goes to you. I think this is maybe more important topic for Africa, because we can't just be the victim of climate crisis while we're not the most beneficiary from the digital technologies. What's your perspective on this?
>> THABO MASHEGOANE: Thank you. Thank you.
>> SOLOMON KASSA: We can't hear you well. We cannot hear you well. Can you fix the mic, please?
>> THABO MASHEGOANE: It should be witchcraft. Yeah.
I think when one speaks of this topic of environment and climate, that topic is a sensitive topic that actually needs to start with trust and the behavior that actually follows, it is very important. You cannot say one thing on one side and two on the other thing. That's very important. That is I think the point of the culture and then we have to have investmental contrastness when we speak about technology starting from cradle to grave, we have to get to be environmental conscience, because it starts on the concept itself of when we are actually innovating that we must get our thinking right so that we are aligned with the environmental goals that we have got.
I will stop it here.
Thank you.
>> SOLOMON KASSA: Thank you so much of.
Your Excellency Mufarihat Kamil.
>> MUFARIHAT KAMIL: Thank you very much.
I think climate security directly implies about food security as well, whether technological interventions can help in solving this problem or not it is the major centre of the question. What matter, the way we use technology, technologiy, yes, it can be a solution regarding preventing this problem, for instance, if we consider the green environment there are technological interventions.
We can consider the case in Ethiopia regarding green legacy, that's a technology‑backed local or indigenous knowledge and skill taken by my Prime Minister. The first interest or target of the initiative, it was reaching out 18 billion trees to be planted. We have reached 25 billion, not million, billion trees within the last four years. This is a local initiative backed by local or indigenous skill and knowledge of the people. Everybody was part of this. When we talk about technology, we shouldn't only think about the high end of technology, you know, local, indigenous knowledge and solution has to be also part of it.
My answer to this question, it is, yes, we need to look into what we have.
>> SOLOMON KASSA: Thank you so much.
Over to you, Tawfik Jelassi.
>> TAWFIK JELASSI: This is essential to combat Climate Change and minimize the resulting harm. Digital technologies in particular, the advanced analytics in AI are crucial since we know that AI can allow reductions of five to 10% of greenhouse gas emissions. This is very important. Number two, I think that there are three key dimensions we have to emphasize.
Number one, policymakers should be aware of these technological advances and what they can do to enable, combat Climate Change, but only ‑‑ not only to be aware but integrate the changes in policies and strategies.
Capacity building is essential, we may be aware of the technological capabilities but we don't have the Human Resources skilled enough, competent enough to make proper use of technology.
Finally, open data and open science are crucial here as instruments to develop and monitor Climate Change policies. Let me conclude that UNESCO adopted the UNESCO open science recommendation, signed by 193 Member States allowing among other, open science, open data to all countries worldwide. This is very important for the capacity building I referred to.
Thank you.
>> SOLOMON KASSA: Thank you so much.
Doreen Bogdan‑Martin, I know ITU has a lot of stake in this and are doing different initiatives. Over to you.
>> DOREEN BOGDAN-MARTIN: Yeah. Thank you. Thank you so much.
I think there are many parallels that can be drawn between the climate crisis and cybersecurity. Both have been debated for decades, both seem to be polarized in terms of discussions, sometimes politicalized. Of course, the threats loom larger than ever before.
I think on both fronts we need what the UN SG would call a breakthrough and if we don't have that, we'll have a breakdown as he often says. The good new, as previous speakers have mentioned, it is that, of course, digital technologies do have a critical role to play when it comes to climate issues, monitoring, mitigation, adaptation, of course the bad news is that we're also makers of greenhouse gas emissions. We have to be as green as possible, we have to be advancing green standards, we need to be tracking greenhouse gas emissions and, of course, we need to be as Taw fik just mentioned, looking at the policy front. We have to up our game in terms of eWaste, you mentioned the monitor, we only have 78 countries that are actually having the eWaste policies and legislation. I think we also need to be advancing early warning systems. We welcomed the UNSG's announce. Of 3.1 million to ensure that we have early warning systems in the next five years.
>> SOLOMON KASSA: Thank you so much.
Thank you, everyone.
We'll move on to the next question.
How can countries build meaningful and sustainable cooperation among multistakeholders within their own borders and beyond? What are some of the examples of successful sustainable cooperation on security, meaning South‑South, North‑South, try angular? To kick it off, I'll start with Mr. Hiroshi Yoshida.
>> HIROSHI YOSHIDA:
There is no end to tackling these cybersecurity issues and risks, they're increasing and we need more Human Resources.
To do this, we have built up partnerships in our country, private and public. The second point is the human resource development.
We have some activities such as the Japan cybersecurity centre established in Bangkok in 2018 and we also have a joint project with World Bank and it is called digital development partnership initiative, capacity building support for developing countries in Asia and Africa. This initiative has been expanded to a cybersecurity fund at the World Bank and support is now underway from U.S., U.K., Netherlands, Estonia to other countries. So no immediate solutions or magic remedy to cybersecurity issues. We should keep going on.
>> SOLOMON KASSA: Thank you. Nathalie Jaarsma, over to you.
>> NATHALIE JAARSMA: Thank you.
Yeah. Building cooperation between stakeholders within a country partly depends on the culture. I'm from a country, the Netherlands that is below sea level and we have always learned how to fight the water in a multistakeholder way. Our culture is very much in our decision making, it is based on consensus decision making based on multistakeholder engagement.
There is a more general lesson learned for other countries. I think that if the country wants to have productive multistakeholder engagement within the country, the good start is by the stakeholder who has the most power inviting others to have a stay as well and to be part of the decision making process and share some of your power.
That is also how our attitude as the Netherlands is in the international sphere. We try to ‑‑ we are a highly digitized country but it comes with responsibilities. It means that we try to listen to others and we try to help others to leapfrog into the digital age. That is why we established together with other countries, the global forum on cyber expertise and we're supporting the program of action, we're doing capacity building on international law. We're trying to share a bit of those digital experiences.
>> SOLOMON KASSA: Thank you so much.
>> NATHANIEL FICK: We're learning firsthand how short 90 seconds is.
Two examples right away: The first, domestic. In the United States we have the joint cyber defense collaborative, which is a partnership among federal, state, local government and the private sector. The key to its success is two‑way information sharing, not information sharing in one direction where you give me your information, I classify it, you get nothing back. Actual two‑way information sharing so that it is mutually beneficial.
Internationally an example in my view that is successful is the organization for security and cooperation in Europe, the OECE and its work on confidence building measures in cyberspace. The key to the success of that initiative in my view is that ECDMs, they're negotiated when intentions are not high, they're negotiated it actively over a long period of time so that there is a durable consensus to use them when tensions are high.
>> SOLOMON KASSA: Thank you so much.
Next, Doreen Bogdan‑Martin, over to you.
>> DOREEN BOGDAN-MARTIN:
Thank you.
To pick up perhaps on Nate's points, we do in order to achieve this meaningful, sustainable cooperation, it needs to be based on dialogue. It needs to be based on stakeholder engagement and as Chris, you said before, it is not just between nations, it is also Civil Society as well as citizens. We do need new models and I liked your point before, you talked about cocreation, that is key, we need to take holistic whole of government approaches, we need the international institutions to do their part, ITU as lead facilitator for action line C5, building confidence and security in the use of ICTs, we do our part. Of course, we also work with partners like Chris' institution, the capacity development, like with when we do our ‑‑ our development of certs and of course we have the global cybersecurity index looking at exchanging Best Practices and identifying gaps when it comes to legal measure, technical measure, organizational measures, capacity development and cooperation.
Thank you.
>> SOLOMON KASSA: Thank you so much.
Mr. Tawfik Jelassi.
>> TOOMAS HENDRIK: Thank you. I'll try to be briefer this time.
I will give you three examples of well functioning sustainable cooperation. I'm not sure how much you will like them.
The first one I have seen yet is the NATO centre of excellence for cybersecurity which includes many of the members of north Atlantic treaty organization. Also neutral countries in Europe also, but for the North‑South dimension, it has member Australia, Japan. That's an organization based on trust, based on respect for common values and it has been extremely effective and functioning ever since after the massive cyberattacks on my country in 2007 and since then, has performed now for 14 years.
A second example of the sustainable cooperation are digital prescriptions pioneered in my country, and which first began ‑‑ became interoperable with Finland and then later on with Portugal, Croatia and the fair islands.
Also I would say we have also set up a cyber National Guard strictly voluntary and which is probably the ultimate form of Civil Society of admins, other people in Civil Society working together to safeguard our cybersecurity in Estonia.
Thank you.
>> SOLOMON KASSA: Thank you. Thank you.
Over to you,.
>> CHRIS PAINTER: Thanks.
I would say two things: One, only 11 years ago I was the first or one of the first cyber diplomats in the world. That's not that long if you think about it.
Elevating this issue to a diplomatic policy issue and in cooperation between the authorities , two of them are on the panel, it is important but a different kind of diplomacy, engaging with other stakeholder, not just states and consulting other stakeholders as it happens in both those countries and many others is important.
The second not surprisingly for me is capacity building and the importance of capacity building to all of this, and to sustain development, sustain cooperation but it has to be inclusive. As I said, the GFC is a model for this, we're a multistakeholder institution, 170 members and partners, including about 60 countries, Civil Society, the private sector, and as Doreen noted, we have partners with the ITU, other organization, African Union, UN echo, many others. So it is important.
Two examples, one very quickly, it is Working Groups we have around key thematic issues. We also have a global portal called the civil portal which is open to everyone.
Then finally, and most I think appropriate for this audience, we're doing an African expert network, for the past couple of years we set it up, African cyber experts working with the AU, the community, building African capabilities and to really drive a more demand‑driven approach not just what we want to give or the Global North wants to give Global South but the Global South saying that is what we need and having a partnership.
>> SOLOMON KASSA: Thank you so much.
Mazuba Haanyama, before you respond, I will say that you will get 3 minutes because you are to be a respondent in the first question so we have a reflection on digital trust along with this question. Over to you (Mart).
>> Thank you very much. I think it was good that my Russian colleagues smoke so long during the first question because cooperation, it is all the same. Even better to reply to these questions. So as our former President has already said about NATO cooperative cyber defense centre ever excellence, it is all about trust and cooperation. We have 38 different nations, in our centre and our purpose, it is to support our nations to be able to face cyber threats together as a coalition because cyberspace, as you all know, does not have borders, and cooperation, it is extremely critical there.
How do we create this cooperation? I think there is no ‑‑ there are two simple principles. The first, to know your neighbor.
Second one, to build trust with your neighbor. You can't trust a neighbor who you don't know. First thing, to work on development standardization, Best Practices, lessons learned together with the community and this is a standby experts, software developers, legal researchers, boots on the ground since they trust each other through this cooperation and personal trust. This is the most valuable thing.
Also here at IGF, where all of these people, all of you across the world are coming together to also build trust between each other.
I would conclude with an example. The example is Ukraine and Estonia, my home nation, Ukraine has had extremely good cooperation on building digital science. A lot of Ukrainian, the digital nation is built up based on experiences from Estonia and our governments and now Ukraine has moved on so fast that Estonia is really considering to build our next generation of governance partially at least based on the Ukrainian experience. This is a finest example of how the mutual cooperation for mutual benefit of economic benefit can help both nations.
Last but not least, at NATO CCDCOE, mostly we deal with not cybercrime or misinformation that we hear of today, actually I think nobody has mentioned yet state sponsored cybercrime and we know there are a couple of nations at least in the world who make this their business to sponsor as many cyber criminals as possible and it can be political gain or it can be financial, direct financial gain.
Now when our friends in Ukraine are under attack from their bigger neighbor who doesn't like the fact that Ukrainians are loving freedom and want to have their borders intact so of course we are all giving our best to bring peace back to Ukranian and cyberspace as well.
Thank you.
>> SOLOMON KASSA: Thank you, Dr. Noorma.
Thank you. We'll move on to the next question.
The the question is, how are vulnerabilities in digital trust and security connected to Human Rights and economic situations in Africa and elsewhere? What are the challenges to overcoming these vulnerabilities?
>> THABO MASHEGOANE: Thank you.
I think that the loss of IP, loss of IP identity, assets, sovereignty, it is a consequence of actually having vulnerabilities in cyberspace. Over and above that, what we ought to see and deal with, it is the basics.
The basics, they're on the basics of respect.
This translates into respect for the Rights of others and it is with that that you start having to self‑reflect when one has to actually to harm the other. This is a life‑long thing that starts with the culture. I have seen one way which is a Japanese way of good karma and it is through doing good that the good comes back to you. We have to instill this in our processes and deal with the issue of social engineering. Social engineering is something that is a number one vulnerability point in which education, continuous awareness in essence to do capacity building on this subject mat, it is critical for us to deal with.
>> SOLOMON KASSA: Thank you so much.
Mufarihat Kamil.
>> MUFARIHAT KAMIL: Thank you.
Security is a Human Rights. Digital security is no different.
Creating human‑centred trusted cyberspace for peaceful engagement and co‑existence is fundamental. This entails re‑inforcement of peace and harmony, co‑existence in cyberspace. Peaceful cybersecurity practices, policy, strategies to place people at the centre, it was a systematic approach addressing technological, economic, social, legal aspects without neglecting the national interests in order to optimize the freedom, economic and social benefits expected from digital openness in our case.
In this regard, there are competing and conflicting interests. What matters is how we're going to balance those competing and conflicting interests matters more.
>> SOLOMON KASSA: Thank you so much.
Doreen Bogdan‑Martin.
>> DOREEN BOGDAN-MARTIN: Yes, thank you.
In 2021 Interpol found that GDP in Africa was reduced by 10% due to cybercrime. That economic impact is not disputable. It is clear. Cybercrime risks, of course, are increasing, new technology is presenting additional risks and trust is taking a hit. As you mentioned this morning without trust, society is not going to benefit from Digital Transformation.
Meaningful trust, unity to all and protecting the means to communicate is absolutely fundamental to the ITU. We believe in a rights‑based approach to digital and, of course, building trustworthy networks and services needs to include security, protection of fundamental rights, including privacy, Freedom of Expression and others. Of course, we demonstrate this through the work that we do in our national cybersecurity strategy support, in the work that we do with UNESCO and our partnerships with OHCHR.
Thank you.
>> SOLOMON KASSA: Thank you so much.
>> CHRIS SHARROCK: When it comes to cybersecurity challenges, we have similar concerns wherever we look around the world. The number one concern is people.
Simply, we need greater investments in the general understanding of the threat landscape and we need a greater investment in the skilled specialists. That's people that understand the importance of Human Rights in security as well.
Technology companies have driven significant investments in the resilience of their pros and services over the last few years, Microsoft last year committed over 20 Billion Dollars over five years to advance our security solutions and to protect customers.
While we increasingly rely on innovative AI solutions as part of our defense against malicious attacks, this still requires that input from those skilled cybersecurity professionals, and as it stands, there is said to be an expected shortfall of 3.5 million jobs by 2025 in the cybersecurity industry globally. To address those challenges, it comes back, of course, to multistakeholderism, we need to work together across Civil Society, private sector, governments, Microsoft for its part is actively helping to cultivate a skilled cybersecurity web force. Earlier this year we announced the ex packs of our cybersecurity skills campaign to 23 countries. Our Microsoft cloud society program, it provides skills paths tailored for careers in security. Finally, Chris painter has talked about the important work of the GFCE, we're actively supporting the work of the GFCE in the Africa region specifically with the establishment of a regional hub.
Similarly in terms of the Human Rights agenda, we often see some nation states also criminal and other groups targeting Civil Society, targeting the various actors within society, that's been a problem. I remember meeting at IGF eight years ago now with a bunch of Civil Society groups who were worried that the promotion of cybersecurity strategies would impact Civil Society because they were not consulted and some countries used approximate I don't say try to actually suppress the Civil Societies.
As we think of this, Human Rights and economics are part of cybersecurity, they're all part of each other. As I look at the challenges and possibly the solutions to this, we can't continue to treat cybersecurity as a niche issue or societal issue, it has to be main streamed in our security policy, economic policy or our Human Rights policy or diplomatic policy, we need to breakdown what we called the silos of excellence between the different stakeholder groups, the technical community, policy community, the security, the economic, the Human Rights community, the development, traditional development community, the cybersecurity community and all of those, and Africa and everywhere for us to make progress.
Thank you very much. ‑‑ other vulnerabilities in Africa, it includes a lack of access to data, to technology and to Human Resources, and here I want to say, recently (technical issue).
A major survey in Africa, 32 countries, assessing media artificial intelligence.
What came out, building a human, institutional capacities in AI and digital technologies, including addressing the gender equality issue, less than 20% of professionals in AI in the country are women, less than 20%.
So the gender equality, it is an important issue, UNESCO is proud and humbled having trained 9 million youth in Africa in the field of coding and programming in partnership with SAP and also the third priorities, advising governments on putting the right digital strategies that are needed and building the partnerships for successful use of deployment of AI and digital technology based applications and systems.
>> SOLOMON KASSA: Thank you so much. Your Excellencies, over to you, Emma Theofelus.
>> EMMA THEOFELUS: Thank you so much. The vulnerabilities of a hospital having a cyberattack, the access to electricity. In many cases there are not alternatives in smaller places, that could critically impact the ability of somebody surviving.
Then, of course, disruption of peace and harmony, because many times the disruption could I went stake gate certain groups where this is concerned and the lack of respect that we talked about for contributions from unique groups and marginalized groups and how that many times we see cultural appropriation without fair compensation for unique intellectual property.
I would say loss of income and livelihood too. Cyberattacks have the potential to take food out of children and out of the hands of many a times mothers in many of the areas.
I think that if you can recall, at the WTDC held in Africa, the first, as a country, we pledged in our Partner2Connect conference that building up a cert, having a cyber bill, it is important because cybersecurity within relation to critical infrastructure literally means life and death for many of our communities on the continent.
>> SOLOMON KASSA: Thank you.
Over to you.
>> Digital technologies, they're intrinsically connected to Human Rights and economic prosperity, think about it in any of our live, just in the last two years, it transformed, digital tech is changing how my parents do healthcare, children access education, how my wife and I learned our livings, how all of us engaged with our communities.
So access, it is essential (Chris Sharrock) and it is worth remembering, there are two different kinds of lack of access. You have the almost 3 billion people around the world who are still unconnected. Doreen has been doing terrific work and will continue at the ITU to do terrific work as Secretary‑General to close that divide.
There is also a second category which is more than 150 examples, this year alone, of governments intentionally disconnecting their people. That is something that we have to condemn in all of its forms.
So on a global level, from a security perspective, as countries further develop their ICT infrastructure, we urge them to prioritize security. We all should promote an open, interoperable, reliable, secure digital ecosystem and that includes resilience of supply chains, including the use of trusted suppliers.
>> SOLOMON KASSA: Thank you so much. Thank you, everyone.
We move to the final, important question.
What practices can we adopt to address the global spread of misinformation and disinformation and how do we ensure informational synergy to reach better consensus on global crisis and climate and policy.
To start it off, Dr. Noorma, over to you.
>> MAZUBA HAANYAMA: Thank you very much. Two examples, small scale, Estonia, our former President ‑‑ (Mart) we mentioned the cyber defers league, it is a voluntary, mainly software developers in their free time, they support the national cybersecurity and one of the components, it is also kind of finding and commenting on misinformation campaigns in media.
So they get a lot of air time to speak about this misinformation campaigns and others have vaccines, about war in Ukraine, other examples. This is one. It can't be scaled up too much. Based on volunteer, we can't solve everything.
The second thing I think most importantly, it is that it is just about education, education, and education and not only educating, software developer, engineer, educating everyone, all of our citizens to understand and to recognize the truth lies in the information domain.
Thank you.
>> SOLOMON KASSA: Thank you so much of.
Tawfik Jelassi.
>> TOOMAS HENDRIK: Thank you.
Well, my colleague, countryman Dr. Noorma already talked about this issue.
We have a considerable Civil Society element in debunking or first finding and then debunking this disinformation that's in my country because frankly, the government really can't spend, doesn't have the wherewithal to devote that much time to all of the disinformation that comes our way. Specifically, I'll bring an example not from my country but rather how disinformation affects health.
Last year RT, the Russian TV station in Germany was actively propagating anti vaccination propaganda.
At the same time, in domestic media, they were telling people they would be fired if they don't get vaccinated. Clearly there is an almost cyber biological warfare element to this kind of disinformation. It is more than simply having ‑‑ getting the wrong beliefs. It is an active element that affects our health, and we need to be aware of these tendencies around the globe.
Thank you.
>> SOLOMON KASSA: Thank you so much.
Nathalie Jaarsma.
>> NATHALIE JAARSMA: Thank you.
On disinformation, I think that the UN Special Rapporteur on freedom of opinion and expression has done very important work, and basically she explains that the best line of defense against disinformation is by creating the conditions for Human Rights, pluralism, and tolerance to flourish.
As Nate was just referring actions to disconnect people from the Internet, rather than taking that position as governments in case of disinformation, please consider funding pluralism, ways to increase the pluralism and, of course, even with a very pluralistic media landscape, this information can still create chaos and then sometimes interventions are legitimate, but proportionatety is key here. Debunking false information, educating, four times, five times, and, of course, a certain level of moderation by social media platforms is the way to go.
>> SOLOMON KASSA: Thank you so much.
Hiroshi Yoshida.
>> HIROSHI YOSHIDA: Thank you. We're addressing the Climate Change and other issue, getting correct information, it is a crucial one. Disinformation misleads citizens and delays resolving global issues.
The important thing, it is the governments should not impose a top‑down judgment. Societies should look at multistakeholder discussion.
On the other hand, each stakeholder has it own responsibility. For example, the government needs to provide objective information and experts provide scientific evidence.
When doing so, freedom of speech should not be deleted. How to deal with disinformation and at the same time the common understanding in society while protecting freedom of speech is an issue of priority and requires global multistakeholder efforts.
Also media literacy, it is also crucial when fighting against disinformation.
Thank you very much.
>> SOLOMON KASSA: Thank you.
Over to you.
>> BELLA CHERKESOVA: International environment, please, believe you me, we're familiar with this and in my country now, and we currently face a lot of attacks that have been planned in cyberspace. We're talking about DDOS attacks and other types, and the dominating role is fake information. Just for you to understand, the Russian information resources have experienced 80% more information attacks and about 9 million fakes, fake news has been distributed this year in our cyberspace. It is very important to understand how to fight this phenomena and it is very important that the information sphere does not stay in a vacuum. It should be filled.
Currently the information space, it is very fragmented. Many groups, even countries engage in it actively. Mostly common users suffer from that. Right now we believe that we need to form rules of how to act responsibly, how to regulate this activity on the world scale.
Right now digital giants are over using their possibilities and we think that we should have a common set of rules of how to use the global digital platforms, probably under the umbrella of the UN. We believe that it is one of the topics within the digital global compact.
>> The violent actors, they're using.
(technical issue) .
>> WEIXIONG CHEN: ‑‑ information, so our terrorism agency has included such work in our dialogue with a number of countries. We have also worked with international organizations to provide a report for the counterterrorism Commission for reference.
>> WEIXIONG CHEN: We found that Member States have a need for capacity building at the policy institutional implementation levels. So on the basis of respecting international Human Rights laws, we still see some gaps. The counterterrorism Committee adopted a declaration requiring Member States to continue working in counterterrorism.
On this agenda, our work cannot stop. We have to continue our work.
Thank you.
>> EMMA THEOFELUS: Thank you. The first one, digital literacy, at the end of the day, we need to arm citizens with the right skills and abilities to debunker the fake news and misinformation and to fact check. I speak this from experience because as Deputy Minister of communication at the heart of the pandemic we tried to communicate the right information and to try to debunk fake new, misinformation, disinformation at the time and at the height of the pandemic, it was very difficult. We could only depend on actually teaching citizens on how to do it themselves.
People have agency. We need to arm them with the right tools in order do that. Because people have agency, they will share this, especially if they don't have the skills. This is why we need to put increased pressure and responsibility on social media platform companies and organizations to actually moderate better because with that proper moderation we're able to circumvent when we would have not adequately given people the necessary tools and literal skills in order to debunk misinformation and fake news.
Thank you.
>> SOLOMON KASSA: Thank you so much.
Thank you.
Remi Marechaux, over to you.
>> REMI MARECHAUX: Thank you.
With regard to disinformation, the factors for this information, it is ensuring quality and independence, I want to talk about two initiatives we participate in. The first one being, partnerships for information and democracy which. In 200 the 9, there are various partnerships to promote Freedom of Expression and information that is reliable and it was organized in September of last year in New York and in the emergence of the UN Assembly from an observer, this was launched, on this model on climate responsible for assessing the function of information of global space.
The second initiative, it is for public media, it was launched in 2021 in the Paris Forum with an initiative where France contributes up to 20,000 euros, Secretary‑General of the UN said that the national media were threatened by the risk of extinction so this partnership to keep them independent is part of the response to this challenge and it is aimed at increasing funding available in emerging and developing countries. In the other respect, regulations, we're working on better regulation and in the digital services which we have the platform to report to the authorities with the democracies by sharing measures that they want to put in place to look at the problems, and it is illegal to be lying offline and online.
>> Is may surprise you that this is an area where a multistakeholder approach is the right approach. And Microsoft is dedicated (Chris Sharrock) to supporting a healthy ecosystem where the trusted news and information, they can thrive so, we recently developed an approach to countering disinformation which is based on our four Ds, so the four Ds, protecting information, integrity, that we use in Microsoft, they're first of all detect, we hunt, track, investigate perpetrators of the disinformation. Often detecting then we seek to disrupt operations. One way is to use the power of transparency, to alert the public about new cyber influence operations.
Another, it is to address the financial supply to known disinformation websites by preventing ads from being placed on such sites.
The third D, deter. We want to strengthen and extend international norms to protect against disinformation and create a standard of behavior for nation state information campaigns.
The fourth, final D, defend. This gets to the positive steps that can be taken to bolster the information ecosystem. Part of this, it is about information literacy, educating the public about how to be a sophisticated information consumer, and the other part, it is as already been said, about preserving and in factory invigorating traditional journalism in order to safeguard the provision of trusted news.
Thanks.
>> SOLOMON KASSA: Thank you so much.
Thank you, everyone. On this final question, I was personally hoping that you would touch upon deep fake and platforming, and that's something very important. Thank you so much for the wonderful perspective and insights.
As we wrap up the panel, I would love to give each panelist a moment to reflect a final remark they have. This time is more challenging. It is 30 seconds.
With that, I start with Mr. Tawfik Jelassi.
>> TOOMAS HENDRIK:
>> SOLOMON KASSA: If you're speaking, we can't hear you.
>> TOOMAS HENDRIK: I would start by repeating what I said here throughout as a common thread, it is that common values, rights, they precede any specific forums in cyberspace. We must respect fundamental rights and freedoms as we do in all other other realms, cyber realms, freedom of speech, free and fair elections, so forth, that should be our guide.
>> SOLOMON KASSA: Thank you so much.
Mufarihat Kamil.
>> MUFARIHAT KAMIL: Thank you very much.
I would like to emphasize on the new thinking, rethinking of the matter itself. The central point of the issue, how we're trying to do, it is to see it from the perspective of, you know, technology.
We can't solve or address this problem by focusing on a singular and one solution. The thinking is seeing this important issue from the perspective of people. We can see how we can coexist in a peaceful manner, not in the way of how we handle it but through a transformational approach instead of focusing on protective measure, why don't we focus on proactive measures. That's the question I have.
Thank you.
>> SOLOMON KASSA: Thank you so much.
Emma Theofelus.
>> EMMA THEOFELUS: Thank you.
I think in closing I would like to say that for there to be digital trust, security, we need to view one another as equals and valuable partners in making the world a safer place for all of us, Global North, Global South, whatever geopolitical position in the world. All of us, we need to be equal partners and not be one. Equal, equitable partnerships that are transparent and all will come out as winner, not some who just basically come out as the bate when a time when we all value our citizens and value our security.
Thank you.
>> SOLOMON KASSA: Thank you so much.
Hiroshi Yoshida.
>> HIROSHI YOSHIDA: Thank you.
The trust and the Summit, the 2019, and where trust exists, we can accelerate the dataflow. However, the important thing, trust should not be made only by one stakeholder, not only by government, not only by business. It should be ‑‑ trust should be fostered through multiat a holder approach and ‑‑ multistakeholder approach and we want to discuss further on this issue also.
Japan is hosting an IGF meeting next year. We are looking forward to the discussions on various issues discussed or to be discussed here in Addis, including bridging digital divide and the resilient infrastructure, disinformation, privacy and security and trust and emerging technologies. So on. We are looking forward to seeing you in Japan next year.
>> SOLOMON KASSA: Thank you.
Bella Cherkesova, over to you.
>> BELLA CHERKESOVA: Naturally, today the digital security topic is one of the priorities for everyone. Russia has been promoting this topic in the UN. We think for a number of year, and we think it should be resolved at the international level.
I would like to remind you of an incident with afrinet and it is probably a good case to mention here in Africa, afrinik was getting a status of an international organization and it was denied at some point. it has to be reviewed further, including the multistakeholder model with the UN.
Also I would like to mention that Russia has undergone a global digital experiment that we have with students, we would like to share our experience was other countries and I would like to take this opportunity and invite everyone to participate in the second Summit of Russian Africa that will take place in petersburg in the summer.
Thank you very much for your attention.
>> SOLOMON KASSA:
>> ICT is a double edged sword that has to be used effectively and in a smart manner (Chen) I hope everybody will retweet this in your account. Thank you.
>> SOLOMON KASSA: Thank you. Doreen Bogdan‑Martin.
>> DOREEN BOGDAN-MARTIN:
Thank you.
So I guess my takeaway would be that the urgency is there. We can't wait. We need to take large scale joint action. We have heard some great solutions today. We need to build on that.
I think we all have a role to play, be it youth, women, government, including parliamentarian, the private sector, Civil Society, and I would also just pick up on Emma's point on media literacy and digital literacy, and that we shouldn't underestimate what each of us can do as individuals.
Thank you.
>> SOLOMON KASSA: Thank you so much.
Mr. Jelassi.
>> TAWFIK JELASSI: I believe first of all, all stakeholders are essential for protecting Human Rights online and also the rule of law.
Second, UNESCO remains committed to supporting Member States face the challenges of the digital age through capacity building in AI and Digital Transformation.
We recently within the UN broad Commission for Sustainable Development published a competency framework on AI and digital transformation for civil servants which we think is useful for governments.
Third and lastly, we need norms based on Human Rights, openness, accessibility and multistakeholder participation to ensure that technology is developed and used in a human‑centred way.
Thank you.
>> SOLOMON KASSA: Thank you so much. Nathaniel Fick, over to you.
>> NATHANIEL FICK:
One of the most dangerous misconceptions about technology is that it is all about the technology. In my experience, tech problems are really about people, process and technology in that order. Let's invest first and foremost in people. Let's do it through capacity building. Let's do it by elevating tech as a mainstream diplomatic issue. Let's do it by engaging in multistakeholder fora like the IGF.
Thank you.
>> SOLOMON KASSA: Thank you so much. Remi Marechaux, over to you.
>> REMI MARECHAUX:
Many thanks.
Trust between stakeholders is important to ensure security and the particulars of this trust is one in respect to international law as said previously which is forbidden, offline must be forbidden online. Second, inclusiveness, Internet is something that's been established in a multistakeholder way. We must protect it and transparency, that's the third one like the use of certain algorithms, the uses, they can use them as openly as possible.
Thank you.
>> SOLOMON KASSA: Nathalie Jaarsma.
>> NATHALIE JAARSMA: So especially at the state level, we have all agreed that international law including Human Rights law applies online as well as offline obviously, so we need to implement that. Of course, capacity building is needed for that and it is really up to the broader multistakeholder community to hold state's accountable.
Then since this is an Interneter governance forum, I would like to make a distinction between technical Internet Governance and the Internet Governance of content, if you will.
The technical layer, please don't fix anything that is not broken. It is done by a multistakeholder community. It has never failed us. It has been functioning since its very existence, but then everything that is on the content layer, yeah, we certainly need to have a discussion there and there we also need to be realistic because there are differences around the world.
Thank you.
>> SOLOMON KASSA: Thank you so much.
>> MART NOORMA: Thank you.
I believe we all share the values in this audience of what we want, peace and prosperity for our nations.
As we have clearly established cyberspace, Internet, it is a way to go to enable this prosperity and we established the cooperation and trust, it is key. So let's do some action. Let's actually for example develop our eGovernance systems together, across borders, let's do our app, technology solutions, let's do it this way so that many nations can use them and this way we can really build trust between individuals, software developers, experts, boots on the ground, then we'll we'll all have peace in signer space.
>> SOLOMON KASSA: Thank you so much. Chris Painter.
>> CHRIS PAINTER: Thank you. This is a new exercise sharing the microphone exercise!
Thank you!
Two things, one I think we made a lot of gross, that's great. We have a long way to go. I would say as I look at this over the time I have spent doing this, a long time, cybersecurity become as priority when something bad happens for about 15 minutes then it goes away. We can't afford that any more. We have to make this a long‑term sustainable priority as we said it under lies the Sustainable Development Goals, economic prosperity, Human Rights, so breaking down those barriers is one way to do it. A multistakeholder approach is another, critically important, capacity building, a third.
I would say if you want to have more information on my organization, the GFCE, you go to the website, the GFCE.org. Thank you.
>> SOLOMON KASSA: Thank you.
>> CHRIS SHARROCK: Thank you. Great discussion. Main takeaway for me, that this must be a collective endeavor, whether it is about protecting individuals and organizations from cybercrime or defending against cyberattacks on critical infrastructure or tackling disinformation, this has to be a collective endeavor.
So there needs to be a coordinated and comprehensive strategy to strengthen defenses, this is a task that will need the private sector, the public sector, Civil Society to come together in partnership.
Thanks.
>> SOLOMON KASSA: Thank you so much.
Mr. Thabo Mashegoane.
>> THABO MASHEGOANE: Thank you.
I think we need to create accessible, fair, inclusive platforms and processes that views all stakeholder voices at its core. This will be a very good foundation for both respect and trust and it will be a platform for and a foundation for bigger things that we build going forward.
Just to quote Vincent, let's roll up our sleeves.
>> SOLOMON KASSA: Thank you so much.
Again, thank you so very much to all our distinguished panelists for a very candid conversation, for shedding light on this very important topic and for providing your very insightful perspective on how to make the Internet a better, trustworthy and a safer space.
I hope we all took notes of these nuggets of thoughts and wisdom to better shape a safer digital future collectively.
Let's give our panelist as very warm round of applause. as we know it, the interrupt sick ses may be attributed in large part to the unique paradigm including shared global ownership, open standards and the technology and the procedures and processes. Since its inception the Internet achieved a remarkable success because of its transparent collaborative and open nature.
Having said that, the Internet is also going through continuous changes and challenges alongside an ever‑evolving, a growingly complex world. Digital trust and security are at the core of the healthy global Internet ecosystem, and they are crucial for a successful digital transformation because innovation, leadership, socioeconomic wellbeing, they're highly reliant on trust that must be earned every day from all of you.
I'm very optimistic that everyone, all of you policymaker, experts, decision maker, all of us as one big family of humanity will come together to protect and safeguard our precious digital space which we can not live without.
I would like to thank the UN, IGF organizing Committee and staff, and the Ethiopian government for hosting such a beautiful forum. I hope you get to enjoy the warm hospitality, the beautiful tradition, culture, the delicious food, coffee, music, of this beautiful country of ours that we call Ethiopia. Thank you for attending the panel. With that, I conclude. Thank you.