How to ensure the functional continuity of global diplomacy in time of crisis
2020-04-02 08:00 - 09:00 (America/New_York) | Online
In times of crisis, global cooperation is essential. Yet, COVID-19 has grounded global diplomacy with the cancellation of meetings and negotiations. In our next live discussion on COVID-19, on Thursday, 2nd April 2020 at 8 am EDT, we will discuss ways of ensuring the functional continuity of global diplomacy. Join us online.
Registrations are open
Register×
In response to the COVID-19 crisis which has grounded onsite meetings and conferences, G7 and EU leaders have taken to video-conferencing to continue their work. The UN and diplomatic services worldwide are now in the search of new solutions for functional continuity during these testing times.
Our just-in-time live discussion will reflect on the reactions to COVID-19’s challenges for global diplomacy, and plans for the future. In particular, the discussion will focus on the functionality of new solutions, security risks, protocol challenges, and the need to ensure that small and developing countries are not marginalised in this transition towards online meetings.
We welcome your active participation in our live discussion.
Experts:
Amb. Stefano Baldi is a career diplomat in the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International cooperation. Before the appointment as Ambassador of Italy to Bulgaria he was a Training Director at the Ministry since 2011. He was previously Head of the Science and Technology Cooperation Department of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs from 2010 to 2011. From 2006 to 2010 he was First Counsellor at the Permanent Mission of Italy to the European Union, responsible for legal and financial aspects of the Common Foreign and Security policy as Relex Counsellor. He has also served at the Permanent Mission of Italy to the International Organisations in Geneva and to the Permanent Mission of Italy to the United Nations in New York in charge for disarmament affairs. He has been the first head of the Statistical Office of the Ministry from 2000 to 2002.
Ms. Chrystiane Roy is the First Secretary at the Permanent Mission of Canada to the UN in Geneva and the WTO. Roy has been following all aspects of digital policy and cybersecurity across all UN based agencies in Geneva since 2015. She joined Global Affairs Canada in 2002. Prior to her arrival in Geneva, she was Deputy Director in the Disarmament and Non-proliferation Division, working on issues relating to biological and chemical weapons, including related export control mechanisms as well as being Canada’s National Authority for the Chemical Weapons Convention. Overseas, she completed assignments in the Canadian embassies in Turkey and Bosnia-Herzegovina. She is also a graduate of a number of DiploFoundation courses.
Mr Moctar Yedaly is the Head of the Information Society of the African Union Commission. By vocation, Yedaly is a telecom, satellite and computer engineer with an MBA in international Business. He holds degrees from George Washington University, Amity University and Institute of Informatics. He has more than 20 years of international experience in policy preparation and implementation, program development and management, partnerships development, operational management, and capacity building. Yedaly has an excellent understanding of the global political and business systems including government institutions in Africa and the Middle East. He also has excellent knowledge of the digital economy and Internet governance, as well as the requirements of the developing world. He has worked for and with private companies and international organisations in the US and Africa. He is fluent in major languages spoken in Africa and the Middle East, namely, English, French and Arabic.
Moderator:
Prof. Jovan Kurbalija is the Founding Director of DiploFoundation and Head of the Geneva Internet Platform. In 2018 and 2019, he served as co-Executive Director of the UN Secretary General’s High Level Panel on Digital Cooperation. Previously Prof. Kurbalija was a member of the UN Working Group on Internet Governance (2004-2005) and a Special Advisor to the Chairman of the UN Internet Governance Forum. Between 2013 and 2014, he was a member of the High Level Multistakeholder Committee for NETmundial (2013‒2014). His book, An Introduction to Internet Governance, has been translated into 9 languages and is used as a textbook for academic courses worldwide.
Registrations are open:

Register

[WebDebate] Multilateral diplomacy in times of COVID-19
2020-04-07 08:00 - 09:00
For many around the world, the briefings of the World Health Organization (WHO) provided crucial information on the emerging crisis. A key moment came when the WHO declared a global pandemic. On March 24th, the UN Secretary-General called for a ‘global ceasefire in all corners of the world’ and argued that ‘the fury of the virus illustrates the folly of war’. Furthermore, responses to COVID-19 illustrate great cooperation and solidarity on the one hand, and evidence of emerging nationalism on the other.
Registrations are open
Register×
In this WebDebate, we will take a look at multilateral diplomacy in the times of COVID-19 in three main steps:

First, we will unpack the role of the UN system and the WHO in particular. We will explore how the system is set up to deal with such a crisis and a global pandemic. For example, how does the WHO work with member states, and how is the decision to declare a global pandemic made?
Second, we will branch out to consider the role of multilateral diplomacy more broadly. While there is a general agreement that joined efforts are needed to manage the crisis, responses seem largely unilateral. Some might even say that we are seeing a new nationalism taking hold. Is multilateralism failing us, and if so why? Moreover, is multilateralism failing those most vulnerable to the economic and societal impacts of the corona crisis, namely countries in the Global South?
Lastly, looking ahead, will we see elements of a new UN or a new multilateral system emerge after the crisis, and what will its building blocks be?

Participants:
Amb. Umej Bhatia is Singapore’s permanent representative to the UN Office in Geneva. He joined the foreign service in 1996 and has served in various capacities on issues covering Southeast Asia, the Middle East, and the UN in the ministry’s headquarters. He served overseas as first secretary in Singapore’s Permanent Mission to the UN in New York, from 1999 to 2003; and as an alternate representative for Singapore on the UN Security Council from 2001-2002; as Singapore’s consul-general in Dubai from September 2011 to December 2012; as Singapore’s first resident ambassador to the United Arab Emirates from January 2013 to December 2016; and, as director-general in the Middle East, North Africa, and Central Asia from January 2017 to May 2019.
Fabrizio Hochschild-Drummond is special adviser to the UN Secretary-General on the Preparations for the Commemoration of the United Nations’ 75th Anniversary. He has been serving as assistant secretary-general for Strategic Coordination in the Executive Office of the Secretary-General since 2017. Prior to that, he served as deputy-special representative for the UN Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in the Central African Republic (MINUSCA) in 2016; as UN resident coordinator, humanitarian coordinator and resident representative of the UN Development Programme (UNDP) in Colombia from 2013 to 2016; as director of the Field Personnel Division in the UN Department of Field Support, New York from 2010 to 2012; and, as chief of Field Operations and Technical Cooperation in the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), Geneva from 2005 to 2009.
Dr Owain Williams is a senior research fellow at the University of Leeds (POLIS). He is a former fellow at the University of Queensland School of Public Health and the Centre for Health and International Relations, the Department of International Politics at Aberystwyth University, UK; he is an expert on the politics and political economy of health policy, and on intellectual property rights and access to medicines; he worked for the UNDP as a consultant on this area in 2014; and, he has published on access to medicines and global health governance, and new actors in health. His work includes, with Adrian Kay (eds.) Global Health Governance: Crisis, Institutions and Political Economy (Palgrave 2009); Partnerships and Foundations in Global Health Governance with Simon Rushton (eds.) (Palgrave 2011), New Political Economy of Pharmaceuticals in the Global South (Palgrave 2013); and The Transformation of Global Health Governance (Palgrave 2014).
Join us on Tuesday, 7th April at 8 am EDT
About our WebDebates
The WebDebates on the future of diplomacy are live streamed on the first Tuesday of every month. They are organised by Diplo within the framework of the International Forum on Diplomatic Training (IFDT). Learn more about our series of WebDebates.
If you form part of a dynamic circle of practitioners in your community, we encourage you to establish a diplomatic hub to follow the WebDebates and to facilitate discussions.
For more information, contact Diplo’s Ms Mina Mudric.
Registrations are open:

Register

(Cyber)Security and the shift to online
2020-04-09 08:00 - 09:00
The rapid shift to online work makes us more dependent on the critical Internet infrastructure and digital services. While this infrastructure is already under a lot of pressure as a result of the recent surge in the use of online tools, DDoS attacks against health or e-learning platforms aggravate this strain. Our demand for more information on COVID-19 makes us easy victims for perpetrators of phishing schemes impersonating health institutions including the World Health Organization. Ransomware campaigns, which often lock down critical systems in hospitals and medical research centres, may now lead to more fatalities. In our next live discussion on COVID-19, on Thursday, 9th April 2020 at 8 am EDT, we will ask our experts: Is the COVID-19 crisis leading towards an increasingly insecure cyber-world?
Registrations are open
Register×
As our communications shifts online, confidentiality also becomes a major challenge. Numerous online meeting platforms and messenger apps have embedded encryption, yet only some services encrypt data between users and platform servers, and fewer encrypt data on their servers. As deepfake algorithms advance, the integrity of information and authenticity of interlocutors may also become an issue.
Do cybersecurity risks increase in times of crisis, or do they just change form? What are the specific roles (and responsibilities) of authorities, the private sector, and users and communities? What could be the post-COVID-19 consequences?
Join us to revisit cybersecurity challenges during the COVID-19 crisis. We welcome your active participation in our live discussion.
Expert:
Mr Vladimir (Vlada) Radunović is a lecturer in cybersecurity policy, Internet governance, and e-diplomacy on postgraduate and professional courses. He also serves as a member of the Advisory Board of the Global Forum on Cyber Expertise (GFCE) and as an expert with the Geneva Internet Platform. He served as a member of the Multistakeholder Advisory Group of the UN Internet Governance Forum (IGF) from 2012 to 2014. Vlada has been a lecturer, speaker, and resource person on a number of educational and training programmes and events worldwide, including within the WSIS and IGF processes. His professional and research focus is on Internet governance, broadband policy and net neutrality, cybersecurity and cyber-diplomacy, e-diplomacy, and capacity development. He holds an MSc in Electrical Engineering from the University of Belgrade and a Master’s in Contemporary Diplomacy from the University of Malta. He is currently working on his PhD in cybersecurity. Vlada is currently member of the Board of Directors of Diplo US.
Registrations are open:

Register

[Briefing] Internet governance in April 2020
2020-04-28 07:00 - 08:00
What were the main Internet governance updates in April? How will recent updates influence the developments in upcoming months? Join us for our next monthly briefing on Tuesday, 28th April, at 7 am EDT, for a round-up of the major global IG and digital policy developments.
Registrations are open
Register×You receive hundreds of pieces of information on digital politics.
We receive them, too.
We decode, contextualise, and analyse them.
Then we summarise them for you.
Every last Tuesday of the month, the Internet governance briefings provide a ‘zoomed-out’ update of the major global IG and digital policy developments.
The Internet governance in April 2020 briefing takes place on Tuesday, 28th April, at 7 am EDT. Join us online; fill in the registration form to reserve your place.
The monthly Internet governance briefings are organised by the Geneva Internet Platform (GIP), a Swiss initiative run by DiploFoundation. Learn more about our monthly briefings and local hubs. To keep up-to-date with GIP events, subscribe to our mailing list. More information at gip@diplomacy.edu.
Registrations are open:
Register
