38 Dictating the Internet: For these reasons, international human rights standards are essential to inform solutions and bridge interpretive and political differences. In 2013 and 2015, the UN Group of Governmental Experts on Developments in the Field of Information and Telecommunications in the Context of International Security (GGE) produced two reports which set out recommendations to improve ICT security on a global level. The GGE’s 2013 report included one recommendation that State efforts to ensure cybersecurity must “go hand-in-hand with respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms set forth in international instruments”. Its 2015 report went further to call on States to “respect” UN resolutions protecting human rights on the internet and the right to privacy online.109 The GGE’s recommendations, however, did not provide targeted guidelines for implementing human rights protections, such as those pertaining to free expression, information and privacy. In September 2019, 27 nations signed a ‘Joint Statement on Advancing Responsible State Behaviour in Cyberspace’ affirming their “commitment to uphold the international rules-based order and encourage its adherence, implementation, and further development, including at the ongoing UN negotiations”.110 sphere of information security”, while the Russia-led resolution mandated the setting up of an Open-Ended Working Group (OEWG) “acting on a consensus basis, to continue, as a priority, to further develop the rules, norms and principles of responsible behaviour of States and the ways for their implementation”. See APC, 10 January 2019; UNGA Resolution No. 73/27, ‘Developments in the field of information and telecommunications in the context of international security’, 5 December 2018, UN Doc. No. A/RES/73/27 (‘A/RES/73/27’); UNGA Resolution No. 73/266, ‘Advancing responsible State behaviour in cyberspace in the context of international security’, 22 December 2018, UN Doc. No. A/RES/73/266 (‘A/RES/73/266’). 109 Group of Governmental Experts on Developments in the Field of Information and Telecommunications in the Context of International Security, ‘Report of the Group of Governmental Experts on Developments in the Field of Information and Telecommunications in the Context of International Security’, 24 June 2013, UN Doc. No. A/68/98, para 21; The GCE’s 2015 report referred specifically to Human Rights Council resolutions 20/8 and 26/13 on the promotion, protection and enjoyment of human rights on the Internet, and General Assembly resolutions 68/167 and 69/166 on the right to privacy in the digital age. See Group of Governmental Experts on Developments in the Field of Information and Telecommunications in the Context of International Security, ‘Report of the Group of Governmental Experts on Developments in the Field of Information and Telecommunications in the Context of International Security’, 22 July 2015, UN Doc. No. A/70/174, para 13(e). 110 These 27 nations were Australia, Belgium, Canada, Colombia, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Hungary, Iceland, Italy, Japan, Latvia, Lithuania, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Poland, the Republic of Korea, Romania, Slovakia, Spain, Sweden, the United Kingdom, and the United States. The statement noted that they would abide by the international rules-based order at both the ongoing UN negotiations of the Open Ended Working Group and Group of Governmental Experts. See fn 98 on the OEWG. US Department of State, ‘Joint Statement on Advancing Responsible State Behavior in Cyberspace’, 23 September 2019, Available at: https://www.state.gov/joint-statement-on-advancing-responsible-statebehavior-in-cyberspace/