ISLAMABAD ( BMZ REPORT )
“While taking collective efforts for further growth and development of the cyberspace international community must also ensure mitigation of the increasing incidences of malicious use of ICTs in cyberspace which are posing risks to whole spectrum of users from individuals to States”. Carrying on with her views on the subject expressed in the Pakistan’s policy statement yesterday at the Genral Assembly, the need for balance was stressed by Minister of State for IT, Mrs. Anusha Rahman Khan during her various engagements and panel discussions during the High Level Meeting of the UN General Assembly in New York which is reviewing the outcomes of World Summit on Information Society (WSIS) process over the past decade, says a press release received here today from New York.
“Rights of Citizens provided by law in offline world must be protected online as well and the global community needs to agree on minimum standards of protection for human dignity particularly for women and children being the most vulnerable communities of the cyberspace”. This was the major focus of the Minster’s panel discussions at two separate events conducted by the ITU “Enabling a trusted connected world” and the UN Women forum “Empowerment in the digital age” on the sidelines of WSIS 10 where the Minister participated as a panelist. Anusha Rahman urged the global community that: “The concerns over safety and security of internet potentially impede the objective of accelerated development and affect the confidence of people in using applications and services offered to traverse the cyberspace. The growing menace has serious implications for international peace and security. The diversity of threats and motives of spiteful and rogue actors in cyberspace increase the risk manifold. Attacks against critical infrastructure and information systems is a growing global menace and that dark side of internet needs to be dealt collectively through collaborative efforts. We, as responsible members of the global community must ensure that nefarious elements do not operate in cyberspace to further their designs”.
Minister also emphasized the need for a well structured debate among nations to achieve tangible outcomes on these important areas in her remarks at the session held by Counter Terrorism Committee of the UN relating to abuse of internet platforms and social media by criminal elements.
In Minister’s two separate meetings held today with the Minister of Tunisia, and the Head of Information technology division of the UN on the sidelines of the UNGA, a consensus was achieved to take these important matters forward through appropriate UN platforms in a coherent and synchronized way. The interventions and contributions of Anusha Rahman on the important subject were well received by the audience who has come to be known as a thought leader on the emerging IT subjects.