Statement by

Mr. Heidar Ali Balouji

First Counselor

Permanent Mission of the Islamic Republic of Iran to the United Nations

At the 2nd Substantive Session of the OEWG on Security of and in the Use of ICTs

On “Confidence-building measures”

New York, 31 March 2022

In the Name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful.

Mr. Chair,

The ICT environment is a peaceful space and should be kept exclusively from the disarmament context. CBMs have weaponry and military history as well as connotation and shall not be applied in cyberspace. Trust and confidence-building measures in cyberspace (TCBMs) shall be built into an ICT environment to address the main sources of mistrust in the ICT environment, particularly the monopoly in internet governance, anonymity, offensive cyber strategies and policies, hostile image-building and xenophobia, unilateral coercive measures, and the lack of responsibility of private companies as well as platforms and their respective states for extraterritorial activities. 

 We believe that the departure point is to realize multilateral, fair and transparent internet governance. We are of the view that the monopoly (in management) and anonymity (of persons and things) are the main sources of mistrust on the internet, which necessitates relevant CBMs. The first and foremost approach is to address the shortcomings and downsides of the current internet governance system with a view to realizing long-awaited fair internet governance.

 Restrictive measures against other States in the ICT environment pose serious threats to trust and confidence in the ICTs environment and requires confidence-building measures. It is an important confidence-building measure that States refrain from adopting any measure that restricts or prevents universal access to the ICTs' benefits.

 Lack of common understanding also constitutes a major potential source of mistrust in the ICT environment. Among other attempts to minimize the risk of misunderstandings and avoid misperceptions, the OEWG should develop an agreed upon terminology consisting of basic terms or a type of glossary for clarification. We consider it important to develop universal terminology with regard to the security and use of ICTs. 

 In the same vein, the lack of a legally-binding framework to regulate behavior in the ICT environment continues to serve as a major barrier for confidence building.

 The scope of trust and confidence building should be extended to areas such as limiting, blocking and coercive policies and measures against other states, ICT products, services and contents, to name a few.

I thank you!