- 72 countries sign UN cybercrime treaty to unify global legal and investigative efforts
- Treaty mandates criminalization, evidence sharing, and extradition, with safeguards for rights and privacy
- Critics warn it enables surveillance and lacks strong protections for human rights and due process
Australia and Spain are among 72 countries which have signed the new United Nations Convention against Cybercrime – the first global treaty designed to combat cybercrime through unified international rules and cooperation.
The treaty, adopted by the UN General Assembly in July 2024, establishes legal frameworks for investigating and prosecuting crimes like ransomware, online fraud, and child exploitation.
The key argument here is that there are legal and cooperation gaps between countries, since cyberattacks often happen in one country, victims reside in another, and the electronic evidence in yet another. The treaty aims to close these gaps by defining common offenses, establishing procedures for digital evidence collection and cross-border data sharing, requiring each member state to criminalize core cyber offenses in its national law, creating mechanisms for international cooperation – including extradition – and “balancing enforcement” with safeguards for privacy, free expression, and due process.
Human rights at risk
However, it’s the latter, together with evidence collection and extradition, that made quite a few countries and organizations stand up against it.
The Electronic Frontier Foundation, Human Rights Watch, and Privacy International, as well as tech giant Cisco, all spoke against the treaty, arguing it forces countries to establish “broad electronic surveillance” while not adequately protecting basic human rights.
72 countries have signed the convention so far – and although there is no comprehensive list of signatories, the list of statements in support of the document, includes Spain and Australia, with other supporters including the League of Arab States, Interpol, Iran, Peru, Luxembourg, China, the Dominican Republic, Venezuela, Malaysia, Sri Lanka, South Africa, the Philippines, Brazil, Chile, Egypt, Thailand, and Czechia.
The signing of the Convention is just the first step. Now, different countries need to pass relevant legislation to be able to enforce it.
Via The Register
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