United States welcomes adoption of ‘landmark’ cybercrime convention

The US State Department said, 9 August, that it welcomed ‘the Ad Hoc Committee on Cybercrime’s adoption of the United Nations Convention Against Cybercrime.’

It said that the agreement ‘expands the global fight against cybercrime, which is one of the most pervasive challenges of our time, affecting communities around the world.’

In a statement, the United Nations said that, ‘After three years of work, the committee established by the UN General Assembly to negotiate a new convention on cybercrime agreed today on a draft convention text.

‘The draft convention is expected to be adopted by the General Assembly later this year, thus becoming the first global legally binding instrument on cybercrime.

‘This achievement represents the culmination of a five-year effort by UN Member States, with the input of civil society, academic institutions and the private sector.’

UNODC Executive Director Ghada Waly said that the finalisation represents ‘a landmark step as the first multilateral anti-crime treaty in over 20 years and the first UN Convention against Cybercrime at a time when threats in cyberspace are growing rapidly,’ and that, ‘As noted in the draft convention, technology has created opportunities for a greater scale, speed, and scope of crimes, from terrorism to drug trafficking to trafficking in persons, migrant smuggling, firearms trafficking, and more.’

However, some observers and campaign groups have criticised the convention. Deborah Brown, deputy technology and rights director at Human Rights Watch, said in a statement, ‘The global cybercrime treaty that the UN has now adopted will be a disaster for the human rights of people around the world. Member countries have created an unprecedented surveillance tool without adequate safeguards. The treaty will effectively be a legal instrument of repression against journalists, activists, and others across the world’s borders.’

https://www.state.gov/on-the-adoption-of-the-un-convention-against-cybercrime

https://unis.unvienna.org/unis/pressrels/2024/uniscp1180.html