The United Nations unanimously approved the first cybercrime pact, endorsing a proposal initially made by Russia.
On Thursday, the United Nations adopted its first cybercrime pact by a unanimous vote that backed a proposal initially made by Russia. The treaty’s ratification is historic because it creates a framework of laws that will enable data access and combat cybercrime on a worldwide scale for the first time.
The Ad Hoc Committee on Cybercrime of the UN adopted the treaty late on Thursday, and it will be put to a vote in the fall by the General Assembly. The same states will be voting on it in the General Assembly, so it should pass easily.
After three years of discussions, which culminated in the ongoing last two-week session, an agreement was reached.
Unexpectedly, given the objections voiced by the country’s delegation previously, Russia also backed the draft deal.
Large IT corporations and human rights organizations are among the treaty’s opponents.
Text that states that law enforcement agencies looking into crimes in any country have the right to request electronic evidence from other countries and ask internet service providers to share data has alarmed both sides.
The final result is a treaty that does not significantly alter earlier, contentious versions of the draft agreement, according to Raman Jit Singh Chima, the Asia Pacific Policy Director at the digital freedoms organization Access Now. There were disagreements on just a few parts of the most recent text that was put to a vote on Thursday.
Every attempt to change the final draft text was unsuccessful, according to Chima, who was there for the debate and final vote on Thursday.
Following the vote, he expressed concerns in an interview, which were echoed by many human rights and digital freedoms organizations.Chima stated, “We believe that the convention text that has been advanced is inadequate in its human rights commitments.”
“In the twenty-first century, it lacks robust safeguards to prevent misuse of digital investigation and digital evidence powers,” he continued. “In actuality, it would facilitate increased monitoring and data access in a manner that erodes people’s confidence in computers and digital technology and directly endangers people.”
Chima described the agreed-upon pact, like other advocates for digital freedom and human rights, as the outcome of UN member states thinking that “bad treaties are better than no treaties.”
There has never been a legal framework on cybercrime that has been discussed and approved by all UN member states, despite the fact that there are other treaties on the subject that are currently in effect and that come from regional organizations. Some of these treaties are even a little more international, like the 23-year-old Budapest Convention.
China, Russia, India, and Brazil—nations that are home to major online criminal organizations—did not sign the Budapest Convention.
Jim Lewis, the director of the Strategic Technologies Program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, stated in an interview on Thursday that one of the criticisms leveled against the Council of Europe treaty, or the Budapest Convention, was that it was negotiated solely by Europeans without input from the global south or other parties. “They have consistently stated that we are unable to ratify a convention that we were not involved in negotiating.”
Lewis, a veteran diplomat, continued, “Now that nations have agreed to a global compact, we can move forward on cybercrime.” “This is a global issue that requires attention, so even a small step forward is progress that counts.”
Career diplomat Ambassador Deborah McCarthy served the United States in negotiations.
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