Participation of the PABSEC International Secretariat to the IPU Webinar “The Role of Parliamentarians to Advance Disarmament in Cyberspace”, 27 January 2021
Mr. Miltiadis Makrygiannis, PABSEC Deputy Secretary General, attended the Webinar on “The Role of Parliamentarians to Advance Disarmament in Cyberspace” co-organized by the IPU, the Geneva Centre for Security Policy (GCSP), the Parliamentarians for Nuclear Non-proliferation and Disarmament (PNND) and the World Future Council, on 27 January 2021.
The event has been organized in response to the Resolution adopted at the 132nd Inter-Parliamentary Union Assembly entitled “Cyber-warfare: A serious threat to Peace and Global Security”, and as one of a number of events in follow-up to the launch of “Assuring our Common Future: a parliamentary handbook to assist implementation of Securing our Common Future”, the UN Secretary-General’s Disarmament Agenda.
The speakers, mainly parliamentarians, experts and professionals in the field of cybersecurity, technology, and international law, pointed that since our dependence on cyberspace for the execution of critical tasks grows, so do the risks and threats that are posed by a malicious online actor. Critical infrastructure, hospitals, electrical grid, banking infrastructure, communication technologies, even certain military aspects of command and control, find themselves under the heightened threat of cyberattacks.
Moreover, they analyzed the United Nations’ activities and focused on the role of parliamentarians in advancing disarmament on cyberspace trying to enlighten and raise awareness of the audience.
They also examined and presented the nature of warfare in cyberspace, the use of cyber-platforms for military actions, existing mechanisms and laws to control cyber-warfare and examples of good policies and parliamentary action to address this issue.