36 Dictating the Internet: The Joint Declaration further emphasized that “cutting off access to the internet, or parts of the internet, for entire populations or segments of the public … can never be justified, including on public order or national security grounds”.100 In the 2015 Joint Declaration, they re-emphasized that “using communications ‘kill switches’ (i.e. shutting down entire parts of communications systems)… are measures which can never be justified under human rights law”.101 Internet shutdowns have also been condemned as violations of international human rights law by the FOC in its 2017 Joint Statement on State Sponsored Network Disruptions.102 x. Other efforts to develop international normative standards governing cyberspace While preceding sections of this report have looked at treaty and non-treaty based guidance on applying international legal standards to the online sphere, this section considers other multi-lateral initiatives led by States, policy “think-tanks”, international organizations and private ICT sector companies which have proposed international standards to govern cyberspace – including standards to ensure cybersecurity, through protections for information security online and against cyber-attacks. Such multi-lateral efforts have lacked adequate grounding in international human rights law and standards and are limited as they do not have the status of international instruments. These include the Shanghai Cooperation Organization’s (SCO) International Code of Conduct on Information Security, the Paris Call for Trust and Security in Cyberspace, the Global Commission on the Stability of Cyberspace, the Global Forum on Cyber Expertise and the Freedom Online Coalition’s (FOC) Working Group on ‘An Internet Free and Secure’.103 The SCO International Code of Conduct on 100 101 102 103 id=17671&user_id=3f72f2845ba8594bb0e4459957511f9b&regi_id=87913927ion=longRead; Human Rights Watch, ‘Kashmir Shutdown Raises Healthcare Concerns’, 30 August 2019, Available at: https://www.hrw.org/news/2019/08/30/kashmir-shutdown-raises-healthcare-concerns Joint Declaration on Freedom of Expression and the Internet, para 6b, also clarifying that “The same applies to slow-downs imposed on the Internet or parts of the Internet”. Joint Declaration on Freedom of Expression and Responses to Conflict Situations, para 4c. Freedom Online Coalition, ‘Joint Statement on State Sponsored Network Disruptions’, March 2017, Available at: https://www.freedomonlinecoalition.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/FOC-JointStatement-on-State-Sponsored-Network-Disruptions.pdf France Diplomatie, ‘Cybersecurity: Paris Call of 12 November 2018 for Trust and Security in Cyberspace’, November 2018, Available at: https://www.diplomatie.gouv.fr/en/french-foreignpolicy/digital-diplomacy/france-and-cyber-security/article/cybersecurity-paris-call-of-12november-2018-for-trust-and-security-in; Global Commission on the Stability of Cyberspace, ‘Global Commission Introduces Six Critical Norms Towards Cyber Stability’, 8 November 2018, Available at: https://cyberstability.org/news/global-commission-introduces-six-critical-normstowards-cyber-stability/; See updated draft of SCO International code of conduct for information security submitted in January 2015 to the UN Secretary-General, ‘Letter dated 9 January 2015 from the Permanent Representatives of China, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, the Russian Federation,