Cyberspace provides golden opportunities, as well as threats

“Cyberspace provides golden opportunities for mankind to constantly develop and promote all aspects of its life. Such an outstanding enabler must therefore not only be promoted throughout the world particularly in developing countries but also be protected against all threats,” said Majid Takht Ravanchi.

Cyberspace can also be used to commit acts of aggression, breaches of the peace, “the threat or use of force”, “to intervene in matters which are essentially within the domestic jurisdiction of any state”, to violate the sovereignty of States or to coerce other States. These must also be effectively prevented, added the Iranian diplomat.

He proposed that “As a guiding principle, the existing “applicable” principles and norms of international law, of course without misinterpretation or arbitrary interpretation, must govern the rights, duties and conducts of States with regard to cyberspace.”

Ravanchi meanwhile complained that there is no consensus about the applicability of international law, or even there is lack of international norms related to cyberspace, proposing that the international community must work towards developing required norms.

“Parallel to such efforts, States must make every effort to promote the widest possible use of cyberspace for their development and in so doing, act responsibly and in accordance with applicable international law, particularly the Purposes and Principles of the United Nations.

He concluded that, cyberspace and its related means, technics and technologies must be used exclusively for peaceful purposes, and to that end, States must act cooperatively, responsibly and in full accordance with applicable international law.

“Finally, we share the views that consideration of cyberspace-related issues must be continued in the General Assembly. For its part, the Islamic Republic of Iran, as one of the victims of cyberattacks, through the stuxnet malicious computer worm -- believed to be built jointly by the United States and the Israeli regime to cause damage to the Iranian peaceful nuclear installations – stands ready to contribute to Assembly’s efforts in developing principles and norms required for cyberspace,” said Ravanchi.

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