Legal instability in cyberspace and OSCE’s mitigation role

Abstract

After the international legal community widely endorsed the application of international law to cyberspace, many open questions remain on the concrete interpretation of existing rights and obligations to the cyber realm. In pursuit of its mandate to promote human rights and conflict prevention, the OSCE can play a major role to support operationalization of international law and application of existing principles to cyberspace. This paper examines some key steps in the aftermath of the creation of norms of behavior, and transparency and confidence-building measures. After a brief analysis of the normcreation process, this piece identifies several pressing cybersecurity challenges on the international landscape, and offers suggestions for consolidating the voluntary non-binding norms States agreed upon. Using lessons learned from other domains, the analysis will focus on mechanisms of building further stability and transparency in cyberspace, in particular by reference to the due diligence principle and States’ human rights obligations.