On 30 June 2022, the silence procedure launched as part of the accreditation process for stakeholder participation in the formal meetings of the OEWG, came to an end. 32 non-governmental entities (of 86) including CENTRE FOR MULTILATERAL AFFAIRS (CfMA) did not receive accreditation because the Russian Federation vetoed its accreditation. No one knows why member states vetoes participation of Non-Governmental actors or what informs their decisions. This action constrains the potential of multi-stakeholder groups to make meaningful contributions to the formal consultations with member states. As per the proposed modalities which were announced in a letter dated 22 April 2022, non-governmental entities without ECOSOC status were able to submit requests for accreditation to the Secretariat for the consideration of the Governments of the Permanent Missions on a no-objection basis.
Under the agreed modalities, Member States have the ability to request information from the Chair in regard to the exercise of the objection to non-governmental entities, including: which Member State(s) exercised the objection mechanism; which Member State(s) objected to each non-accredited non-governmental entity/entities, and any information provided, on a voluntary basis, by Member State(s) exercising the objection mechanism, setting out the basis of its objections.
On 30 June 2022, the Permanent Mission of Ukraine to the United Nations sent a communication to the Chair informing that Ukraine objected to the accreditation of the following entities:
- Centre for International Information Security, Science and Technology Policy, Moscow State Institute of International Relations
- Federal State Budgetary Institute of Science, The Institute of State and Law of the Russian Academy of Sciences
- Kaspersky
- Russian Federal Center of Forensic Science
- Russian International Affairs Council
The Permanent Mission of the Russian Federation to the United Nations also sent a communication to the Chair informing that the Russian Federation objected to the accreditation of the following entities:
- Anglo American
- Australian Strategic Policy Institute
- Centre for Multilateral Affairs
- Chatham House- The Royal Institute of International Affairs
- Cyber Policy Institute
- CyberPeace Institute
- Cybersecurity Tech Accord
- DXC Technology
- Elcano Royal Institute
- Forescout
- Forum of Incident Response and Security Teams
- Géopolitique de la datasphere
- German Council on Foreign Relations
- Global Forum on Cyber Expertise
- International Chamber of Commerce United Kingdom
- Independent Diplomat
- KnowBe4
- Media Rights Agenda
- Microsoft
- Observer Research Foundation America
- Oxford Institute for Ethics, Law and Armed Conflict
- Stiftung Neue Verantwortung
- Stimson Center
- Temple University Institute for Law, Innovation and Technology
- The Azure Forum for Contemporary Security Strategy
- Trend Micro
- World Economic Forum
- Note: This article is slightly adapted and cross-posted from ‘LetsTalkCyber Newsletter – June 2022’ with credits to: Edoardo Ravaioli
