Royal United Services Institute (RUSI)
    Louise Marie Hurel, Royal United Services Institute, Civil Society, WEOG

    Speakers

    (TBC) Noran Fouad, Manchester University, Academia, WEOG
    (TBC) Representative, Government, MEA
    Bassant Hassib, Middle East Institute, Civil Society, MEA
    James Shires, ECCRI, Civil Society, WEOG
    (TBC) Sherif Hashem, First Org, Technical Community, WEOG

    Onsite Moderator

    Louise Marie Hurel, Royal United Services Institute, WEOG

    Online Moderator

    James Sullivan, Royal United Services Institute, WEOG

    Rapporteur

    Louise Marie Hurel, Royal United Services Institute, WEOG

    SDGs

    16.3
    16.6
    17.16
    17.17
    17.6


    Targets: At the core of the Global Partnership for Responsible Cyber Behaviour is the assessment of national, regional and international mechanisms for ensuring accountability, transparency and other best practices in maintaining and securing cyberspace. Such an objective is directly linked to the 16.3 and 16.6 SDGs that touch upon precisely the same areas of effective, accountable, and transparent institutions; preservation of rule of law; and international cooperation and capacity building. These mechanisms require a concerted effort if they are to (i) reflect the diversity and convergence of views around responsible cyber behaviour and (ii) encourage collaboration and exchange for future research and practice. The GP-RCB gathers scholars from different regions and seeks to provide a platform for multistakeholder knowledge exchange as further detailed in SDG 17.6, 17.16, and 17.17.

    Format

    Theater

    The roundtable will be an interactive dialogue where each speaker will be assigned pre-set questions. Rather than having each of them speaking for 5-7min, the session will be moderated in a fireside chat mode, unpacking expert views on different countries in the region following a short opening the dialogue with a broader reflection on some of the key characteristics shaping responsible cyber behaviour in the region.

    Duration (minutes)
    60
    Description

    Despite international efforts to establish norms and principles of responsible behaviour in cyberspace in spaces such as the United Nations (UN) Group of Governmental Experts (GGE) and the Open-Ended Working Group on the security in and of Information and Communications Technologies (OEWG), such norms have not been put into practice consistently because of at least three underlying factors: (i) their mandate is limited to international peace and security rather than driven by domestic, regional, or development/economic-oriented agendas; (ii) a limited number of states have articulated what constitutes responsible behaviour in cyberspace in an often-fragmented manner; and (iii) many of states have limited capacities to engage in such discussions. To close the gap between international and national dimensions, a dialogue on responsible behaviour in cyberspace merits a closer look at domestic incentives and views.
    In 2023, RUSI launched the Global Partnership for Responsible Cyber Behaviour (GP-RCB) at the IGF in Kyoto. The Partnership’s goal is to map practical understandings of responsible cyber behaviour by providing a platform for evidence-based research and for experts from different sectors and regions to reflect on the diversity of views on the topic. In 2024, and following the dialogues held in each of the regional workstreams of the Partnership, the GP-RCB is launching the Global Compendium on Responsible Cyber Behaviour – a cross-regional publication providing more nuance and national context to how countries have sought to interpret what constitutes responsible behaviour in cyberspace.
    This session celebrates the publication of the Global Compendium of Responsible Cyber Behaviour by gathering scholars and practitioners from multiple stakeholder groups to share their views on the specific institutional, geopolitical and policy challenges facing countries in the Middle East in this topic. Speakers will reflect on the specific interpretations of responsible state behaviour for countries within the region, some of the blockers, gaps, and/or regional threats facing them, and how to reconcile domestic thirst for sustainable development with the implementation of international norms for responsible behaviour in cyberspace.
    About the GP-RCB: https://rusi.org/networks/global-partnership-responsible-cyber-behaviou…
    The GP-RCB 2023 IGF Launch Event “Building a Global Partnership for Responsible Cyber Behaviour”: https://youtu.be/BbYBB-q2ydE?si=n0DUqlhdd_tOzjB3


    At RUSI, we are committed with facilitating a dialogue that is not only restricted to the room. We are well-experienced in moderating and convening hybrid events and will also leverage our expertise to moderate the dialogue in the most inclusive way. We will make use of online interactive tools such as Slido or Webex to collate questions for the panellists. We know that not all speakers or participants are able to travel, thus we would prioritise questions and interventions from the online audience to provide them with the opportunity to engage effectively in the dialogue. We would be keen on using Slido, if desirable, to support joint interaction between members both in person and online. This would also allow us to avoid overly differentiating audiences.