UN member states met Monday (29/7) to finalize an international treaty on combating cybercrime, a text that has been strongly opposed by an unlikely alliance of human rights organizations and big tech companies.
The “UN Convention Against Cybercrime” began in 2017 when Russian diplomats wrote to the world body’s secretary-general, outlining the initiative.
Two years later, despite opposition from the US and Europe, the General Assembly established an intergovernmental committee tasked with drafting such a treaty.
Now, the draft text will finally be put to a vote by member states at the end of a two-week session.
However, after seven negotiation sessions to date, criticism has actually increased.
While the revised draft contains “some welcome improvements,” according to the office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, concerns remain “about significant shortcomings, with many provisions failing to meet international human rights standards.”
“These shortcomings are particularly problematic against the backdrop of the widespread use of cybercrime laws in some jurisdictions to unduly restrict freedom of expression, target dissenting voices, and arbitrarily interfere with the privacy and anonymity of communications,” the UN High Commissioner added in an analysis. (ns/time)
