OSCE Chairmanship Conference in Zug: 'The human dimension of cybersecurity: Responsibility remains ours'

SpeechPublished on 29 September 2026

OSCE Chairmanship Conference in Zug: "The human dimension of cybersecurity: Responsibility remains ours"

Zug, 29.09.2026 - Closing speech pronounced by Federal Councilor Ignazio Cassis, OSCE Chairman-in-Office, at the OSCE Chairmanship Conference on "De-escalation in Cyberspace: mediation and preventive diplomacy". The event was held in Zug, Switzerland, on September 29th, 2026.

Dear Delegations from OSCE Participating States

Excellencies, Ladies and gentlemen

We came to Zug with one question:
How do we prevent escalation in cyberspace?

After these discussions, my answer is simple.

Technology changes at breathtaking speed.
Human nature does not.

Fear, mistrust and misperception are not new.
And under pressure, our instinct is often to react before we fully understand.

What is new is the speed at which this can now turn an incident into a crisis.

That is why the challenge is not only technological.
It is diplomatic. And ultimately, it is human.

Technology can help us detect threats.
AI can help us analyse them.

But neither can decide when to communicate rather than retaliate, when to de-escalate rather than escalate.

That remains our responsibility.

And this is where the OSCE matters.

For fifty years, it has offered something remarkably simple:
a table around which adversaries can still talk.

Helsinki taught us that dialogue does not require agreement.
It requires the willingness to keep talking despite disagreement.

That lesson is no less relevant in cyberspace.

The domain may be digital.
But peace still depends on human judgement.

And perhaps the history of security is not only a history of technological innovation.

It is also a history of human restraint.

Thank you.