OPINION: Five years after Snowden, UN General Assembly adopts mild resolution on cybernetic wars
Over concerns from non-Western countries, the Disarmament and International Security Committee of the UN General Assembly adopted its first resolution on the topic “Cyberwarfare as a threat to international security”.
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It has been five years since Edward Snowden, former NSA technician, leaked confidential information from the U.S. government to the international press. The documents included proof of U.S. espionage over multiple businesses and statespersons around the globe, including German and Brazilian chiefs of state Angela Merkel and Dilma Rousseff.
By the end of 2013, Germany and Brazil presented a draft text to the Third Committee of UNGA entitled “The right to privacy in the digital age”, condemning the misuse of information and communications technology with the objective of obtaining confidential information from other countries, was quickly co-sponsored by other member states. Since then, the topic has been discussed yearly by the Social, Cultural and Humanitarian Committee.
The Disarmament and International Security Committee, on the other hand, used to discuss the issue under the topic “information and communication technologies”. The debut of the present topic, “Cyberwarfare as a threat to international security”, was met with apprehension by some member states, as it constitutes an incipient matter for most representations, which do not have positions as deeply grounded and substantiated about it as they do to other topics. Nevertheless, the resulting Resolution was adopted by a recorded vote — with solely four abstentions (from the United States, Russia, Syria and the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea) and no vote against.
Without much in the way of stronger language, the resolution fulfills the role of promoting cooperation and trust-building on what regards cyber-related issues. The mild character of its recommendations was necessary to harness support from most representations, which had not been as favorable of the resolution for most of the discussion. An emblematic example of this significant indisposition towards the resolution occurred right before the action phase, when, upon asked by the Bureau if the resolution was to be approved by consensus (without taking a vote), most of the representatives responded “yes” while a smaller yet considerable portion of the committee swiftly answered “no”.
In a lighter, more optimistic tone, this resolution represents the first step of a periodic discussion of the topic. Hopefully, the understanding of the issue, as well as its technical and juridical implications, will evolve alongside the construction of a common ground between all 193 member states, promoting the adoption of more specific, incisive documents without opposition from any country. The absence of votes against in this first step indicates a good omen for future texts approved by consensus.
By Rafael Santiago
