Where is the Defense & Security event held?

The Defense & Security event takes place in Bangkok, THA.

What is the primary focus of the Defense & Security exhibition?

The exhibition primarily focuses on land, sea, and air defense technology, showcasing advancements in military hardware and security systems in Bangkok.

Defense & Security 2027

Name: Defense & Security 2027
Start: 2027-11-08T00:00:00Z
End: 2027-11-11T00:00:00Z
Location: Bangkok

Nov 8–11, 2027Bangkok, ThailandIn-person

Registration open

Defense & Security is a prominent international exhibition and conference focusing on land, sea, and air defense technology. Held in Bangkok, THA, this event serves as a critical platform for showcasing advancements in military hardware, security systems, and related services. It brings together defense and security professionals from around the globe, fostering collaboration and knowledge exchange in a rapidly evolving geopolitical landscape.

Committees & topics

Security Council 1 (UNSC)
The Situation in Sudan
Security Council 2 (UNSC)
Cybersecurity and the Protection of Critical Infrastructure
Committee on Digital Affairs & Sovereignty
Digital Sovereignty, Data Governance, and the Global Digital Compact
Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC)
Sovereign Debt Restructuring and Financing for Sustainable Development
UNESCO
Protection of Cultural Heritage in Armed Conflict
UN Environment Programme (UNEP)
Environmental Consequences of Armed Conflict
World Health Organisation (WHO)
Implementing the Pandemic Agreement and Reformed International Health Regulations
Human Rights Council (HRC)
Human Rights in the Age of Artificial Intelligence

Why it matters

The exhibition's location in THA, a key nation in Southeast Asia, underscores the region's growing strategic importance in global defense and security discussions. As nations navigate complex security challenges, events like Defense & Security provide an essential forum for governments and industry leaders to assess new technologies, discuss emerging threats, and forge partnerships. The convergence of diverse stakeholders, from manufacturers to military delegations, facilitates a comprehensive understanding of current and future defense needs.

This event is particularly relevant for understanding the intersection of technological innovation and national security. It offers insights into how countries are adapting their defense strategies to address modern warfare, cyber threats, and regional instabilities. The discussions and exhibits at Defense & Security can illuminate trends in military procurement, defense industrial bases, and the broader geopolitical shifts influencing security policies worldwide.

How to prepare

To effectively engage with the Defense & Security event, delegates should undertake thorough preparation, focusing on understanding the diverse interests and strategic priorities of participating nations and corporations. A robust stakeholder mapping exercise, as outlined in the "What Is Stakeholder Mapping?" and "Stakeholder Mapping Workshop" lessons, is crucial. This involves identifying key government officials, military leaders, industry executives, and technology developers who will be present, and understanding their respective agendas and potential points of collaboration or contention.

Furthermore, delegates should conduct a dynamic analysis of current geopolitical trends affecting the defense sector, drawing on insights from the "Dynamic Analysis" lesson. This includes examining regional conflicts, technological advancements in military applications, and shifts in international alliances. Understanding these broader contexts will enable more informed discussions and strategic networking. Consideration of "Hidden Stakeholders" and their influence, as detailed in the corresponding lesson, can also reveal underlying dynamics that might not be immediately apparent.

Finally, developing targeted "Engagement Strategies" is vital for maximizing participation. This involves crafting clear objectives for attendance, preparing concise talking points, and identifying specific individuals or organizations for engagement. Given the international nature of the event, an awareness of "Gender Dynamics Across Cultures" can also enhance communication and negotiation effectiveness, ensuring that interactions are culturally sensitive and productive.

Country perspectives

Where the most-relevant 4 countries stand on the core issues in play. Click through for the full country profile.

Thailand

Host nation with growing defense needs and a strategic position in Southeast Asia.

Role in topic

THA hosts the event, reflecting its commitment to modernizing its armed forces and its role as a regional hub for defense and security dialogues. The nation is a significant consumer of defense technology and a potential partner for international defense industries.

United States

Major defense technology provider and strategic ally.

Role in topic

The USA is a leading global supplier of advanced defense systems and a key strategic partner for many nations. Its participation highlights its interest in maintaining regional security and showcasing cutting-edge military innovations.

China

Emerging defense technology powerhouse and significant regional player.

Role in topic

CHN's presence underscores its increasing influence in the global defense market and its advancements in military technology. It seeks to expand its defense exports and strengthen strategic partnerships, particularly within Asia.

Russia

Established defense exporter with a focus on diverse military hardware.

Role in topic

RUS is a traditional supplier of military equipment to various countries. Its participation aims to maintain its market share and introduce new defense solutions to international buyers.

Topics & background

The background behind each topic and the actors that shape it.

Security Council 1 (UNSC)

The Situation in Sudan

Sudan has been engulfed in civil war since April 2023, when fighting erupted in Khartoum between the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) under General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) under Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo ('Hemedti'). The conflict grew out of the unresolved transition that followed the 2019 ouster of Omar al-Bashir and the October 2021 coup, in which the SAF and RSF jointly seized power before turning on one another over the terms of security-sector integration. Combat has spread from the capital across Darfur, Kordofan, and Gezira, with the RSF accused of ethnically targeted killings in West Darfur reminiscent of the 2003-2005 atrocities for which the International Criminal Court issued indictments. The humanitarian consequences are now the largest displacement crisis in the world, with more than ten million people uprooted internally and across borders into Chad, South Sudan, and Egypt, and famine conditions confirmed in parts of Darfur and the Kordofans. Both sides face credible allegations of war crimes; external actors, including the United Arab Emirates (accused by UN experts of arming the RSF) and Egypt (aligned with the SAF), have deepened the proxy dimension. The Council's 2004 arms embargo on Darfur under Resolution 1591 remains poorly enforced, and successive ceasefire initiatives in Jeddah and through the African Union have collapsed. The Council today is debating expansion of the arms embargo to all of Sudan, sanctions designations against commanders implicated in atrocities, mechanisms for humanitarian access through cross-border corridors, and the question of referral or support to ICC investigations. Divisions among the P5, particularly over Russian and Chinese reluctance to broaden sanctions, continue to constrain action.

Key players

Security Council 2 (UNSC)

Cybersecurity and the Protection of Critical Infrastructure

State and state-sponsored cyber operations against critical infrastructure have escalated sharply over the past decade, from the 2015 and 2016 attacks on Ukraine's power grid, to NotPetya in 2017, the 2021 Colonial Pipeline ransomware incident, and a continuing stream of intrusions targeting water utilities, hospitals, telecommunications, and undersea cables. The UN has addressed cyber norms primarily through the First Committee's Group of Governmental Experts (GGE) processes and, since 2019, the Open-Ended Working Group (OEWG) on ICTs, which has produced consensus reports affirming that international law, including the UN Charter, applies in cyberspace and endorsing eleven voluntary norms of responsible state behavior. Despite this normative scaffolding, the Security Council has historically treated cyber as a thematic rather than operational matter. The 2020 Estonian-led Arria-formula meeting marked the Council's first sustained engagement, and subsequent briefings have focused on attacks against humanitarian organizations and healthcare systems during the COVID-19 pandemic and the war in Ukraine. Core disputes persist over attribution, the threshold at which a cyber operation constitutes a use of force or armed attack under Article 2(4) and Article 51, the permissibility of countermeasures, and proposals from Russia and China for a new binding cybercrime or information-security treaty separate from the Western-backed Budapest Convention framework. The Council now confronts whether to move from declaratory norms toward enforcement: designating attacks on critical infrastructure during armed conflict as breaches of international humanitarian law, considering sanctions architectures for cyber actors comparable to counter-terrorism regimes, and protecting subsea cables and satellite systems as global commons.

Key players

Committee on Digital Affairs & Sovereignty

Digital Sovereignty, Data Governance, and the Global Digital Compact

The concept of 'digital sovereignty' emerged in response to the dominance of a small number of largely US-based technology platforms and to the post-2013 Snowden disclosures about mass surveillance. The European Union has pursued sovereignty through regulation (GDPR in 2018, the Digital Services Act and Digital Markets Act in 2022, and the AI Act in 2024) and industrial policy initiatives such as Gaia-X. China has built a parallel internet governed by the 2017 Cybersecurity Law, the 2021 Data Security Law, and the Personal Information Protection Law, while Russia has progressively codified a 'sovereign RuNet' since 2019. Many states in the Global South now seek a middle path that preserves cross-border data flows essential for development while protecting citizens' data and domestic digital industries. At the multilateral level, the UN Global Digital Compact, adopted as part of the Pact for the Future in September 2024, set out commitments on closing digital divides, governing data, advancing human rights online, and establishing an international scientific panel and global dialogue on AI governance. The Compact sits alongside the WSIS+20 review, ITU processes, and the ongoing fragmentation between the OECD/Council of Europe model, the Chinese 'community with a shared future in cyberspace' framework, and emerging African Union and ASEAN data strategies. The core tensions before the committee are how to reconcile sovereignty claims with an open, interoperable internet; how to govern cross-border data flows and AI compute; how to prevent internet shutdowns used against political speech; and how to ensure that smaller and developing states have a meaningful voice in standards bodies dominated by the largest economies.

Key players

Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC)

Sovereign Debt Restructuring and Financing for Sustainable Development

The sovereign debt position of low- and middle-income countries has deteriorated sharply since 2020, as pandemic-related borrowing, rising US interest rates, currency depreciation, and commodity shocks combined to push a record share of developing countries into debt distress. The IMF and World Bank classify more than half of low-income countries as in or at high risk of debt distress, and external debt service now exceeds spending on health or education in dozens of states. Zambia (which defaulted in 2020), Sri Lanka (2022), Ghana (2022), and Ethiopia have undergone or are negotiating restructurings, exposing the slowness and inadequacy of existing frameworks. The G20 Common Framework, launched in 2020 to coordinate restructurings among Paris Club and non-Paris Club creditors (notably China, now the largest bilateral lender), has been widely criticized as too slow and narrow, and it does not bind private bondholders who hold a growing share of debt. African states, supported by Latin American and Caribbean partners, have pushed since 2023 for a UN-led intergovernmental process on sovereign debt, building on the 2015 UNCTAD principles and culminating in a UN General Assembly resolution in late 2024 to begin negotiations on a framework convention on international tax cooperation and, separately, to strengthen the debt architecture. ECOSOC's work intersects with preparations for the Fourth International Conference on Financing for Development (FfD4) in Seville in 2025 and its follow-up. Core disputes include whether to create a statutory sovereign debt workout mechanism at the UN, how to ensure comparable treatment between Chinese state creditors and private bondholders, the role of credit-rating agencies, and how to link debt relief to climate and SDG investment through instruments such as debt-for-nature and debt-for-climate swaps.

Key players

UNESCO

Protection of Cultural Heritage in Armed Conflict

The destruction of cultural heritage in war is as old as war itself, but the legal regime built to prevent it is largely a post-1945 creation. The 1954 Hague Convention for the Protection of Cultural Property in the Event of Armed Conflict, together with its 1954 and 1999 Protocols, established the 'Blue Shield' emblem and obligations to safeguard movable and immovable heritage. The 1970 UNESCO Convention on illicit trafficking and the 1972 World Heritage Convention extended protection in peacetime. Yet the destruction of the Bamiyan Buddhas in 2001, the looting of the Iraq Museum in 2003, the demolitions in Timbuktu and Palmyra by jihadist groups, and the deliberate targeting of religious sites in Syria, Yemen, Nagorno-Karabakh, Ukraine, and Gaza have shown the regime's limits. Landmark accountability steps include the 2016 ICC conviction of Ahmad al-Mahdi for the destruction of Timbuktu mausoleums - the first such conviction as a war crime - and Security Council Resolution 2347 (2017), the first dedicated UNSC resolution on cultural heritage in armed conflict. UNESCO has documented extensive damage to Ukrainian cultural sites since 2022 and to heritage in Gaza since October 2023, including sites on the World Heritage List or its Tentative List. Parallel debates concern the restitution of colonial-era collections from European museums to African and Asian states of origin, with France, Germany, the Netherlands, and Belgium taking varied steps on Benin Bronzes and other holdings. The committee confronts how to strengthen enforcement of the Hague regime, expand the 'enhanced protection' list, regulate the antiquities market to choke off conflict financing, integrate cultural-property protection into military doctrine and peacekeeping mandates, and advance the restitution agenda without rupturing the universal museum tradition.

Key players

UN Environment Programme (UNEP)

Environmental Consequences of Armed Conflict

Armed conflicts inflict heavy and often lasting damage on the natural environment: oil-well fires in Kuwait in 1991, defoliation in Vietnam, contamination from depleted uranium and unexploded ordnance, destruction of the Kakhovka dam in Ukraine in June 2023 with massive downstream ecological harm, fuel-tank strikes off Yemen, and the degradation of Gaza's aquifer, soil, and coastline since October 2023. The International Law Commission's 2022 Draft Principles on Protection of the Environment in Relation to Armed Conflicts (PERAC), welcomed by the UN General Assembly, codify obligations before, during, and after hostilities and recognize protected zones of major environmental importance. UNEP has long played a documentation and post-conflict assessment role, from its work in the Balkans and Sudan to its ongoing monitoring in Ukraine in partnership with the OSCE and the Ukrainian government. The Programme also coordinates with the ICRC's 2020 updated Guidelines on the Protection of the Natural Environment in Armed Conflict. Yet enforcement gaps persist: the threshold under Additional Protocol I (Articles 35(3) and 55) of 'widespread, long-term and severe' environmental damage is extremely high, and few prosecutions have followed. Proposals to recognize 'ecocide' as an international crime, advanced by Vanuatu, Belgium, and others, are gaining traction but remain contested. The committee must consider how to operationalize the PERAC principles, finance post-conflict environmental remediation, integrate environmental due diligence into peace operations and reconstruction, and clarify the status of military emissions, which remain largely excluded from UNFCCC reporting requirements.

Key players

World Health Organisation (WHO)

Implementing the Pandemic Agreement and Reformed International Health Regulations

The COVID-19 pandemic, which killed an estimated 15 to 20 million people through 2021 according to WHO excess-mortality analyses, exposed systemic weaknesses in global health security: delayed information sharing, inequitable vaccine access (with COVAX falling far short of targets), and weak compliance with the 2005 International Health Regulations (IHR). In December 2021 the World Health Assembly established an Intergovernmental Negotiating Body (INB) to draft a new pandemic instrument, and in parallel began amending the IHR. After three years of difficult negotiations, the World Health Assembly adopted targeted IHR amendments in 2024 and, in May 2025, the WHO Pandemic Agreement, the first treaty adopted under Article 19 of the WHO Constitution since the 2003 Framework Convention on Tobacco Control. The Agreement establishes commitments on prevention, One Health surveillance, technology transfer, geographically diversified manufacturing, and a Pathogen Access and Benefit-Sharing (PABS) system that links rapid sharing of pathogens with equitable access to vaccines, therapeutics, and diagnostics. Several contentious provisions, particularly the operational annex on PABS, were deferred to follow-up negotiations. The United States announced withdrawal from WHO in early 2025, and a number of states have expressed concerns about sovereignty implications, complicating ratification. The committee now confronts the implementation phase: finalizing the PABS annex; financing the Pandemic Fund and country-level core capacities; clarifying obligations on intellectual property and compulsory licensing; integrating non-state manufacturers; and ensuring that the amended IHR's compliance mechanisms have practical effect when the next Public Health Emergency of International Concern is declared.

Key players

Human Rights Council (HRC)

Human Rights in the Age of Artificial Intelligence

Rapid deployment of artificial intelligence systems - from generative models and biometric surveillance to predictive policing and algorithmic content moderation - has surfaced human rights questions across the spectrum of civil, political, economic, social, and cultural rights. The Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights has published successive reports since 2018 examining the impact of AI and other digital technologies on the rights to privacy (ICCPR Article 17), freedom of expression (Article 19), non-discrimination, fair trial, and the freedoms of assembly and association. In 2021 the High Commissioner called for a moratorium on the sale and use of AI systems posing serious risks to human rights until adequate safeguards were in place. The normative landscape is fragmenting. The EU AI Act entered into force in 2024 with risk-tiered obligations and bans on certain practices. The Council of Europe's Framework Convention on AI, opened for signature in September 2024, is the first binding international treaty on AI and human rights. UNESCO's 2021 Recommendation on the Ethics of AI has been endorsed by all member states. The UN General Assembly adopted its first AI resolutions in 2024, and the Global Digital Compact established a UN scientific panel and global dialogue on AI governance. Yet binding obligations under UN human rights treaties remain to be clarified, and many states deploy facial recognition, social-scoring tools, and AI-enabled censorship without effective oversight. The Council must consider whether to create a Special Rapporteur or working group on AI and human rights, how to operationalize human rights due diligence for AI developers and deployers under the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights, how to protect rights in the context of generative AI and election integrity, and how to ensure that AI governance does not entrench a divide between AI-producing and AI-consuming states.

Key players

Resources

News, lessons, and country profiles to prep for Defense & Security 2027.

Recent reporting to ground your prep

US Job Openings at 6.7M

Trump's Economic Reset

Supreme Court's Voting Rights Impact on 2026

Mifepristone Ruling Sparks 2026 Political Tug

Lessons

Bite-sized lessons to build the basics

Hidden Stakeholders

Engagement Strategies

Dynamic Analysis

Stakeholder Mapping Workshop

Courses

Guided courses that go deeper on the topic

Advanced Negotiation

Multilateral Negotiation

Policy Brief Writing

Conflict Resolution

Thailand November 2027

By committee

Frequently asked questions

Defense & Security 2027

Nov 8–11, 2027Bangkok, ThailandIn-person

Registration open

Committees & topics

Security Council 1 (UNSC)
The Situation in Sudan
Security Council 2 (UNSC)
Cybersecurity and the Protection of Critical Infrastructure
Committee on Digital Affairs & Sovereignty
Digital Sovereignty, Data Governance, and the Global Digital Compact
Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC)
Sovereign Debt Restructuring and Financing for Sustainable Development
UNESCO
Protection of Cultural Heritage in Armed Conflict
UN Environment Programme (UNEP)
Environmental Consequences of Armed Conflict
World Health Organisation (WHO)
Implementing the Pandemic Agreement and Reformed International Health Regulations
Human Rights Council (HRC)
Human Rights in the Age of Artificial Intelligence

Why it matters

How to prepare

Country perspectives

Where the most-relevant 4 countries stand on the core issues in play. Click through for the full country profile.

Thailand

Host nation with growing defense needs and a strategic position in Southeast Asia.

Role in topic

United States

Major defense technology provider and strategic ally.

Role in topic

China

Emerging defense technology powerhouse and significant regional player.

Role in topic

Russia

Established defense exporter with a focus on diverse military hardware.

Role in topic

RUS is a traditional supplier of military equipment to various countries. Its participation aims to maintain its market share and introduce new defense solutions to international buyers.

Topics & background

The background behind each topic and the actors that shape it.

Security Council 1 (UNSC)

The Situation in Sudan

Key players

Security Council 2 (UNSC)

Cybersecurity and the Protection of Critical Infrastructure

Key players

Committee on Digital Affairs & Sovereignty

Digital Sovereignty, Data Governance, and the Global Digital Compact

Key players

Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC)

Sovereign Debt Restructuring and Financing for Sustainable Development

Key players

UNESCO

Protection of Cultural Heritage in Armed Conflict

Key players

UN Environment Programme (UNEP)

Environmental Consequences of Armed Conflict

Key players

World Health Organisation (WHO)

Implementing the Pandemic Agreement and Reformed International Health Regulations

Key players

Human Rights Council (HRC)

Human Rights in the Age of Artificial Intelligence

Key players

Resources

News, lessons, and country profiles to prep for Defense & Security 2027.

Recent reporting to ground your prep

US Job Openings at 6.7M

Trump's Economic Reset

Supreme Court's Voting Rights Impact on 2026

Mifepristone Ruling Sparks 2026 Political Tug

Lessons

Bite-sized lessons to build the basics

Hidden Stakeholders

Engagement Strategies

Dynamic Analysis

Stakeholder Mapping Workshop

Courses

Guided courses that go deeper on the topic

Advanced Negotiation

Multilateral Negotiation

Policy Brief Writing

Conflict Resolution

Thailand November 2027

By committee

Committees & topics

Why it matters

How to prepare

Country perspectives

Topics & background

Resources

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Frequently asked questions

Committees & topics

Why it matters

How to prepare

Country perspectives

Topics & background

Resources

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Frequently asked questions