Please note this event takes place from 13:15 to 14:45 EST. 

The Oxford Institute for Ethics, Law and Armed Conflict (ELAC) invites you to join a discussion on the Oxford Process on International Law Protections in Cyberspace.

The event will be a hybrid discussion convened with the support of Microsoft and the Permanent Mission of Japan to the United Nations.

During the event, panellists will address both procedural aspects of the initiative and substantive protections under international law, as outlined in the five Oxford Statements and other outputs of the Institute in the area of cyber regulation.  

We welcome OEWG Delegates, other governmental representatives and members of the multi-stakeholder community, including civil society and industry.  

Background and goals

Since May 2020, the Oxford Process on International Law Protections in Cyberspace has provided an important global forum for multi-stakeholder discussions on the clarification of international law in its application to cyberspace. Its five Statements, each signed by more than one hundred leading experts in international law, enshrine points of consensus on the ways international law protects essential services and processes, such as the healthcare sector and electoral processes, and regulates particular types of cyber operations, such as information operations and ransomware. Responding to the OEWG’s encouragement of initiatives aimed at the clarification of existing legal standards, the Oxford Process seeks to complement and assist existing inter-governmental processes. Through its workshops and substantive outputs, the Process reaffirms the key role of international law in the protection of States and individuals, fosters inter-disciplinary multi-stakeholder discussions and assists the building of national capacity in the area of international law.

Format

Initial remarks will be followed by a panel discussion and Q&A with the audience. The event will be hybrid, with both an in-person component and a virtual room. Attendees in the virtual room will be able to intervene with questions and comments. The venue for the in-person component is Murase Room, Japan Society, 333 East 47th Street, New York, NY 10017.

Lunch will be provided for in-person attendees.

Registration

All attendees must register for the Side Event by 8 December. For in-person attendees, please be ready to provide proof of COVID-19 vaccination.

Programme

Welcome and introduction 

Harold Hongju Koh, Sterling Professor of International Law, Yale Law School

Opening remarks 

Miguel de Serpa Soares, Under-Secretary-General for Legal Affairs and United Nations Legal Counsel

Izumi Nakamitsu, Under-Secretary-General and High Representative for Disarmament Affairs

History, goals and methodology of the Oxford Process

Harold Hongju Koh, Sterling Professor of International Law, Yale Law School, in conversation with 

• Dapo Akande, Co-Director, ELAC; Professor in Public International Law, Blavatnik School of Government and Co-convenor of the Oxford Process
• Talita Dias, Research Fellow, Jesus College, Oxford and ELAC
• Tomohiro Mikanagi, Deputy Director-General of the International Legal Affairs Bureau, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Japan

The Five Oxford Statements in focus

A discussion between

• Duncan Hollis, Laura H. Carnell Professor of Law, Temple Law School and Co-convenor of the Oxford Process
• Tsvetelina van Benthem, Research Officer, ELAC

Audience Q&A 

Closing remarks

Harold Hongju Koh, Sterling Professor of International Law, Yale Law School