The meeting ended the UN Open-ended Working Group final report on developments in the field of information and telecommunications in the context of international security. For almost two years, BISR participated in the work of the Group as part of the official delegation of the Republic of Belarus. The meetings, including the final session (March 8-12), were rich in debates.
The final report, adopted by consensus, contains the priorities promoted by Belarus, including the "digital sovereignty" principles that correlate with the Belarusian initiative on establishing the "digital neighborhood" belt, the significant role of regional partnerships, and the harmful effects of ICT militarization. The meeting recorded the authorship of the Republic of Belarus regarding calls to reject the existing ICTs militarization.
In the BISR report made on March 12, the attention of the delegates was drawn to the importance of a scientific perspective on ICT development and more substantive presentation in UN documents of norms and principles of states responsible behavior in cyberspace.