Future Leaders Competition 2026: Runner-Up – Gokul Sreeja Vijay

Safeguarding the Physical ICT Layer: A Case for Expanding the UN's Global Mechanism

By Gokul Sreeja Vijay

Abstract:
Recent disruptions to ICT infrastructure, from the Red Sea cable cuts to the devastation caused by Storm
Melissa in Jamaica, illustrate the lack of any global institutional mechanism to respond to such disruptions. Policy focus over the last two decades has centred on the digital layer of communications, leaving the physical layer, such as the cables, data centres, terrestrial networks, and supply chains, without rules,
institutions, or financing. This essay proposes extending the UN's new Global Mechanism on ICT security
to the physical layer, through cooperation, common definitions, technical standards, and capacity
support.