On August 8, 2024, the member states of the United Nations adopted the first global agreement aimed at combating cybercrime, although many human rights activists have expressed serious concerns about the possibility of misuse for surveillance purposes. After three years of intense negotiations and the final two-week session in New York, UN members adopted the Convention against Cybercrime by consensus. This document will now be forwarded to the General Assembly for formal adoption.
” I believe that the documents have been adopted. Thank you all, well done everyone! ”
Faouzia Boumaiza Mebark , Algerian diplomat
The committee for drafting this agreement was established despite the opposition of the United States of America and Europe, after Russia launched an initiative for its drafting in 2017.
The new agreement comes into force after being approved by 40 member states and aims to “prevent and more effectively fight cybercrime,” with a particular focus on the abuse of child pornography and money laundering. The delegate of the Republic of South Africa described the agreement as “historic,” noting that provisions on technical assistance and capacity building provide much-needed support to countries with less developed cyber infrastructure.
However, the agreement has drawn criticism from an unusual coalition of human rights activists and big tech companies, who argue that its scope is too broad and could become a global tool of surveillance and repression. The agreement allows the state, for the purpose of investigating any crime punishable by at least four years in prison under domestic law, to request from the authorities of another country electronic evidence related to that crime, as well as data from Internet service providers.
Deborah Brown of Human Rights Watch warned that the agreement “will be a disaster for human rights and a dark moment for the UN, ” arguing that “this agreement is actually a legal instrument for repression. “
According to her, the agreement could be used to suppress journalists, activists, LGBT people, free thinkers and others around the world.
Nick Ashton-Hart, leader of the Cybersecurity Tech Accord delegation representing more than 100 technology companies, including Microsoft and Meta, expressed regret that the accord was adopted without addressing key flaws identified by civil society, the private sector and even the United Nations body itself. human rights. Ashton-Hart stated that “whenever applied, the Convention will be harmful to the digital environment as a whole and human rights in general,” and urged states not to sign or implement the agreement.
On the other hand, some countries have expressed concern that the agreement actually contains too many safeguards for human rights. A few days ago, Russia criticized that the agreement had become “oversaturated with safeguards for human rights,” accusing other countries of using “democratic values” as an excuse to pursue their own interests. During the final session, Iran tried to delete several clauses that, in their opinion, had “ inherent flaws. ” One of the contested clauses is the one that states that “ nothing in this Convention shall be interpreted as permitting the suppression of human rights or fundamental freedoms, ” such as freedom of expression, conscience, opinion, religion or belief. However, the proposal to delete this provision was rejected by a majority vote, while no country, including Iran, prevented the agreement from being adopted by consensus.
It remains to be seen how member states will react to this agreement and what consequences it will have on the global fight against cybercrime, but also on the protection of human rights.
Source: rolify.com
