UNITED NATIONS LEGAL COUNSEL DELIVERS OPENING REMARKS TO THE AFRICAN UNION Side-Event on the Margins of the Open-Ended Working Group on Security of and in the Use of Information and Communications Technologies
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On 4 March 2024, the Under-Secretary-General for Legal Affairs and United Nations Legal Counsel, Mr.听Miguel de Serpa Soares, delivered opening remarks to a side-event organized by the African Union Commission on International Law and the African Union Peace & Security Council on the margins of the Open-Ended Working Group on Security of and in the Use of Information and Communications Technologies to mark the adoption of the Common African Position on the application of international law to the use of information & communication technologies in cyberspace.
The Legal Counsel saluted the efforts deployed by the African Union and welcomed the adoption of a Common African Position which explicitly and unequivocally reaffirms that international law applies in cyberspace and governs the use of ICTs in cyberspace.
Recalling the complex and multifaceted intergovernmental processes currently hosted by the United Nations in relation to cyberspace and information and communications technologies, the Legal Counsel highlighted the success of multilateralism that the adoption by the 55 member states of the African Union of a common position on such a complex and polarizing topic represents.
