Statement by Mr. Nirupam Dev Nath, Counsellor under the Thematic Discussion on “Other Disarmament Measures and International Security” at the First Committee of the 74th Session of the UN General Assembly on 29 October 2019 in Conference Room 4

Statement by Mr. Nirupam Dev Nath, Counsellor under the Thematic Discussion on “Other Disarmament Measures and International Security” at the First Committee of the 74th Session of the UN General Assembly on 29 October 2019 in Conference Room 4

Mr. Chairman,

Bangladesh aligns itself with the Statement delivered by Indonesia on behalf of the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM).

We reiterate our principled support towards inclusive and transparent multilateral solutions to all disarmament and non-proliferation issues. We also stress the paramount importance of mainstreaming and preserving relevant environmental norms in the international legal regime concerning disarmament and arms control. Essentially, we need to further expand disarmament education and research through all possible means and ensure meaningful participation of developing countries to achieve these goals. We appreciate various initiatives of the UN Office for Disarmament Affairs (UNODA) including its online courses on cyber-security and implementation of the UNSC resolution 1540.  We urge upon the countries with adequate resources and knowledge to invest more in these areas.

 

Mr. Chairman,

We envision transforming Bangladesh into a digitally advanced country by 2021. We have identified ICT as a key vehicle for implementing Agenda 2030 in the country. As such, we stress the critical importance of promoting international cooperation to ensure information security, including through appropriate transparency and confidence building measures. We welcome the opportunities for developing countries to voice their concerns and priorities through the current works of the OEWG in the areas of norms, rules, principles of the responsible state behavior, threats management, attribution, the balance between rights and responsibilities, and cyber capacity building. We look forward to contributing our part towards a successful outcome of the OEWG. We also value the works of the previous and the current GGEs. Going forward, we would appreciate if the two parallel processes could converge upon the important future rules of the road in cyber field. We appreciate that both the Chairs of the OEWG and the GGE this morning in their briefings to this committee highlighted the importance of building consensus and complementarities, and keeping our ambition on higher trajectory.

The possible threats posed by terrorists using ICT to compromise international security, and thereby cause widespread harm, underscores the importance of further reviewing and, as needed, strengthening the existing legal regime applicable to this domain. Hence, we reiterate the importance of factoring in potential threats in the cyber-sphere, including new developments in artificial intelligence and other related fields into the implementation of the UN Security Council Resolution 1540. It would be a critical challenge for the international community to prevent the virtual platform and related technologies and services enabled by ICT from being exploited for the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction by terrorists and other unauthorized entities.

 

I thank you.