The missing piece in human-centric approaches to cybernorms implementation: the role of civil society

The importance of a human-centric approach to peace and security in cyberspace has been consistently noted in cybernorms discussions, including in the UN First Committee’s Open-Ended Working Group on ICTs. However, an analysis of what a human-centric approach to implementing cybernorms means in practice has so far been lacking. Furthermore, literature and discussions about the role of cybernorms in maintaining international peace and security have, to date, dealt mainly with the role of state actors and the private sector, while the role of civil society has not been widely or adequately researched and documented. This article posits that civil society actors, working in collaboration with other stakeholders, have an important role to play in defining and implementing the human-centric approach to cybersecurity through their implementation of cybernorms. It unpacks the human-centric approach through three practical case studies and examples of the implementation of cybernorms grounded in different contexts. In this way, it aims to contribute to the understanding of what it means to implement cybernorms in a human-centric manner, and, by extension, to implement a human-centric approach to cybersecurity.