{"id":12585,"date":"2024-12-09T16:12:25","date_gmt":"2024-12-09T15:12:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.prif.org\/between-a-rock-and-a-hard-place-the-un-cybercrime-convention\/"},"modified":"2024-12-09T16:12:25","modified_gmt":"2024-12-09T15:12:25","slug":"between-a-rock-and-a-hard-place-the-un-cybercrime-convention","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.prif.org\/en\/2024\/12\/09\/between-a-rock-and-a-hard-place-the-un-cybercrime-convention\/","title":{"rendered":"Between a Rock and a Hard Place: The UN Cybercrime Convention"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>In December 2024, UN members will vote on a worldwide Cybercrime Convention negotiated since 2019. While the convention is problematic, this Spotlight shows why a conditional acceptance nonetheless seems the best way forward. For this purpose, we first present the different meanings of cybercrime and outline the existing regulatory framework. We then examine the UN negotiations and the possible human rights implications of the convention, showing that it reflects the contestation of human rights norms and a growing division in the UN, yet supporting the convention at this point also enables long-term influence on its implementation. <\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The fact that cybercrime is not strictly defined makes it an inherently political term, used differently depending on what is being criminalized in which context. In its most basic understanding, cybercrime is a \u2018cyber-enabled crime\u2019 and thus refers to crimes facilitated by the internet and digital technology: from fraud via email to digital harassment and illegal marketplaces. In addition, \u2018cyber-dependent crimes\u2019 can only be committed through this technology. Computer systems are thus necessary instruments for cybercrimes but also targets of cybercrime, such as when criminals compromise software, hardware, and networks. This also implies that there is no definite list of cybercrimes, nor do cybercrimes have much in common beyond the name, and various activities can be labeled \u2018cybercrime\u2019 depending on a given national context. For instance, the United States has a different understanding of free speech than many European states, and censorship in Russia or China defines crimes that are unknown in other countries. All this is reflected in the content users can post legally. At the same time, a large part of the digital infrastructure is in private hands, and regulatory efforts on the national level typically involve the storage of communication data and transmission to authorities on request. Any increased monitoring and surveillance of cyberspace shrinks possibilities of anonymity \u2013 this can be beneficial for countering crime yet can also endanger civil liberties and political opposition in non-democratic regimes.<\/p>\n<h2><strong>Existent International Efforts against Cybercrime<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>As a global treaty among states worldwide, the UN Convention would change existing international norms against cybercrime. Such global norms not only define crimes but also support the processes linked to global cybercrime governance, for instance, international law enforcement cooperation, joint operations across borders, or countering crime in cooperation with private companies that provide cyberspace infrastructure. International norms on cybercrime have emerged in different regions, such as regulations by the AU, ASEAN, or EU. Among these regional organizations, the Council of Europe (CoE) adopted the first-ever convention against cybercrime in 2001 (in force since 2004). Despite its regional origin, the \u2018Budapest Convention\u2019 has been adopted by many states outside the CoE member base, most notably the US, which was also involved in negotiating it.<\/p>\n<p>As an international convention, the Budapest Convention defines a range of crimes that states are expected to criminalize in national laws (Art. 2-11). Most of these criminalization requirements also found their way into the UN Convention, sometimes in more detail and with an updated presentation of current technology. They encompass different kinds of interference with computer systems, unauthorized data access, but also crimes like child pornography. It also contains many procedural aspects of accessing and monitoring communication data and data storage. At the same time, safeguard clauses exist (Art. 15) that explicitly refer to UN and CoE treaties on human rights. The Convention was supplemented by a protocol on hate speech in 2004, a topic not included due to differences among European countries and the US. The Budapest Convention represents an important international norm against cybercrime, being closely connected to the human rights framework of the CoE and other human rights norms. Yet, its universal status has always been contested. In an early competition for different rules, Russia, then a member of the CoE, began initiating debates on regulating cybercrime in the UN in 1999, ultimately leading to the nearly concluded negotiations.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_10181\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-10181\" style=\"width: 648px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-10181 size-large\" src=\"https:\/\/blog.prif.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/UNGA-LH-1024x350.jpeg\" alt=\"The large conference room of the UN General Assembly with the UN logo on the wall above the podium.\" width=\"648\" height=\"221\" srcset=\"https:\/\/blog.prif.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/UNGA-LH-1024x350.jpeg 1024w, https:\/\/blog.prif.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/UNGA-LH-300x103.jpeg 300w, https:\/\/blog.prif.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/UNGA-LH-768x262.jpeg 768w, https:\/\/blog.prif.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/UNGA-LH-1536x525.jpeg 1536w, https:\/\/blog.prif.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/UNGA-LH-2048x700.jpeg 2048w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 648px) 100vw, 648px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-10181\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">In December 2024 the United Nations General Assembly votes on the Cybercrime Convention, which was drafted by a committe since 2019. Photo: \u00a9 Lena Herbst.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<h2><strong>Human Rights and the UN Cybercrime Negotiations<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>The current draft convention is contested among states, and even initiating the process that led to it was not consensual but decided by a majority vote in 2019. Almost twenty years after Russia\u2019s initial attempt to establish such a UN treaty process, geopolitical changes and shifting majorities in favor of Russia\u2019s proposal led the UN General Assembly (GA) to establish the \u2018Ad Hoc Committee to Elaborate a Comprehensive International Convention on Countering the Use of Information and Communications Technologies for Criminal Purposes\u2019 (AHC). The committee was tasked to \u201celaborate a comprehensive international convention on countering the use of information and communications technologies for criminal purposes,\u201d and it soon became an intense negotiation process open to all UN member states.<\/p>\n<p>Accompanied by a selected multistakeholder community, the AHC drafted a comprehensive convention. After outlining the objective and some general provisions, the text defines the scope of applicable measures and criminal offenses. It further includes regulations on international cooperation, preventive measures, technical assistance and information exchange, and the convention\u2019s implementation. Ultimately, the convention\u2019s adoption requires consensus on all aspects. Yet, from the first substantive session in March 2022 onward, the negotiations were torn between a state-focused approach led by Russia, China, and allied developing countries and a multi-stakeholder, human rights-based approach supported by the US and Western countries. The AHC debated different approaches to <em>what, why, how<\/em>, and <em>by whom<\/em> cybercrime needs to be prevented and combated. Diverging perspectives showed in the negotiations on the convention\u2019s objective, the scope of criminalization, and the protection of human rights safeguards, revealing broader geopolitical fissures between states pushing for authoritarian multilateralism and supporters of multistakeholder, democratic governance.<\/p>\n<p>Russia, China, and allied states firmly pushed for criminalizing a broad range of cyber-dependent and cyber-enabled crimes based on sovereignty arguments. This would have implications for which and whose data can be accessed, collected, stored, and even transferred, making it likely to come at the expense of people\u2019s data and privacy and paving the way for mass surveillance and data misuse. The EU, US, and like-minded states, echoed by the multi-stakeholder community, have vehemently called for strong human rights safeguards and emphasized the criminalization of cyber-dependent crimes. Statements repeatedly warned against the potential harm of a bad treaty that allows for mass surveillance, restricts freedom of expression due to the criminalization of content, and provides insufficient protection for journalists and security researchers. The lack of enforcement regulations and interpretations left to domestic law could lead to severe consequences for human rights in cyberspace.<\/p>\n<p>Despite inter-sessional consultations, informal discussions in working groups, proposed package deals, and compromises, an agreement between these fundamentally different perspectives became impossible. With voices getting louder that no treaty might be for the best, the planned concluding session was suspended and reconvened in August 2024. Member states again discussed an updated draft text of the Convention with a narrower scope but limiting any reference to human rights and articles 6 and 24. Despite Iranian attempts to delete the remaining human rights references, the final document found a consensus, with all articles being agreed <em>ad referendum<\/em> and proposed to the GA.<\/p>\n<p>While many paragraphs of this draft UN Convention resemble those of the Budapest Convention, noticeable changes and gaps exist: The crimes covered include more recently emerging crimes, like the dissemination of intimate pictures, but exclude copyright infringements (Art. 10 in the Budapest Convention). The jurisdiction of the UN Convention is relatively broad and includes cybercrimes committed abroad but directed against a state party (Art. 22). Non-democratic states could use this to claim the application of this Convention against criticism abroad. Most severely, the Budapest Convention refers to human rights treaties (Art. 15), including those of the UN, but the UN Convention does not contain the same references. Additionally, paragraphs transferred from the Budapest Convention have been changed, such as Art. 29 of the UN Convention on real-time cooperation, which is based on the wording of Art. 20 of the Budapest Convention, but without its reference to the protection of human rights.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_10190\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-10190\" style=\"width: 790px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-10190 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/blog.prif.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/International-Norm-Development-Timeline-1.png\" alt=\"A timeline shows the international norm development on cybercrime. The first stage comprises the adoption of the Budapest Convention by the Council of Europe in 2001, which entered into force in 2004, followed by further regional efforts to regulate cybercrime. The second stage consists of the UN's attempts to develop a convention in an intergovernmental group of experts between 2011 and 2021, after Russia had worked on establishing a U cybercrime treaty process for many years. The third stage involves the negotiation process of the AHC, which was established in 2019 and adopted a draft in 2024 after intense discussions. The final stage will be the adoption of the UN Cybercrime Convention by the UN General Assembly in December 2024. It will enter into force after 40 ratifications, and further implementation will be carried out by the Conference of the Parties.\" width=\"790\" height=\"330\" srcset=\"https:\/\/blog.prif.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/International-Norm-Development-Timeline-1.png 790w, https:\/\/blog.prif.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/International-Norm-Development-Timeline-1-300x125.png 300w, https:\/\/blog.prif.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/International-Norm-Development-Timeline-1-768x321.png 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 790px) 100vw, 790px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-10190\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Figure 1: International Norm Development on Cybercrime<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<h2><strong>Implications: To Ratify or Not to Ratify <\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>Important decisions on the treaty are due in December 2024. Despite its shortcomings, the draft convention was agreed upon in the AHC as a compromise and is scheduled for a vote at the ongoing GA. If adopted, the UN Cybercrime Convention would enter into force after 40 ratifications (Art. 65). On the one hand, the treaty\u2019s adoption is seen as a formality, because states have already agreed upon the draft resolution in the reconvened concluding session of the AHC. A treaty is also one of the few opportunities to demonstrate that multilateralism in the UN can bridge divisions among states. On the other hand, given the treaty\u2019s implications, its adoption might cause long-term problems, weighting UN member states\u2019 decisions on voting and proceeding. This sidelining of human rights implications has led to a broad coalition of civil society organizations and private sector entities urging states to vote against the resolution\u2019s adoption and to neither sign nor ratify the Convention, to avoid any harm resulting from the treaty. They warn against potential surveillance and data misuse due to lacking human rights safeguards and data protection. This lack of consideration for data protection concerning citizens\u2019 rights also causes states problems when considering existing domestic and supranational regulations. All in all, the existing draft Convention signifies a treaty in which the application of human rights has been more contested than in regional conventions. For these reasons, democratic states might be particularly tempted to reject the Convention and neither sign nor ratify it.<\/p>\n<p>It is, however, unlikely that the draft Convention will fail to pass the GA. Therefore, it seems advisable to accept the treaty with reservations and become a state party to the Convention. Without internal critics, the \u2018Conference of Parties\u2019 (CoP), tasked with reviewing and implementing the convention, could develop additional measures and worsen a Convention that at least includes some human rights safeguards. In particular, due to Russia\u2019s and China\u2019s growing influence, rejecting the Convention could pave the way for \u2018digital authoritarianism\u2019 in a central UN norm on cyberspace. Still, accepting the Convention requires careful monitoring, not only of the CoP, but also of its results in practice. If reviews of the treaty show that its implementation means compromising human rights and data protection, states should continuously reevaluate whether to stay or leave the treaty, with the Budapest Convention as a remaining fallback option.<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p>D<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-10192 size-medium alignleft\" src=\"https:\/\/blog.prif.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/Spotlight_11_2024-Cover-212x300.png\" alt=\"PRIF Spotlight 11\/2024 \u201ctBetween a Rock and a Hard Place\u201d Cover\" width=\"212\" height=\"300\" srcset=\"https:\/\/blog.prif.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/Spotlight_11_2024-Cover-212x300.png 212w, https:\/\/blog.prif.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/Spotlight_11_2024-Cover-724x1024.png 724w, https:\/\/blog.prif.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/Spotlight_11_2024-Cover-768x1086.png 768w, https:\/\/blog.prif.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/Spotlight_11_2024-Cover-1086x1536.png 1086w, https:\/\/blog.prif.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/Spotlight_11_2024-Cover-1448x2048.png 1448w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 212px) 100vw, 212px\" \/>ownload (pdf): <a href=\"https:\/\/www.prif.org\/fileadmin\/Daten\/Publikationen\/PRIF_Spotlights\/2024\/PRIF_Spotlight_11_2024_barrierefrei.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Jakobi, Anja P.\/Herbst, Lena (2024): Between a Rock and a Hard Place: The UN Cybercrime Convention, PRIF Spotlight, 11, Frankfurt\/M..<\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.prif.org\/publikationen\/references-prif-spotlight-11\/2024\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">To the references<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>In December 2024, UN members will vote on a worldwide Cybercrime Convention negotiated since 2019. While the convention is problematic, this Spotlight shows why a conditional acceptance nonetheless seems the best way forward. For this purpose, we first present the different meanings of cybercrime and outline the existing regulatory framework. We then examine the UN negotiations and the possible human rights implications of the convention, showing that it reflects the contestation of human rights norms and a growing division in the UN, yet supporting the convention at this point also enables long-term influence on its implementation.  <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":375,"featured_media":12379,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1125,1112],"tags":[1161,1142,1144,1145],"coauthors":[1045,1046],"class_list":["post-12585","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-english-en","category-prif-spotlight","tag-cybersecurity-en-2","tag-international-order","tag-multilateralism","tag-united-nations"],"acf":[],"views":1170,"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v26.1.1 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Between a Rock and a Hard Place: The UN Cybercrime Convention - PRIF BLOG<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/blog.prif.org\/en\/2024\/12\/09\/between-a-rock-and-a-hard-place-the-un-cybercrime-convention\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Between a Rock and a Hard Place: The UN Cybercrime Convention - PRIF BLOG\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"In December 2024, UN members will vote on a worldwide Cybercrime Convention negotiated since 2019. While the convention is problematic, this Spotlight shows why a conditional acceptance nonetheless seems the best way forward. For this purpose, we first present the different meanings of cybercrime and outline the existing regulatory framework. We then examine the UN negotiations and the possible human rights implications of the convention, showing that it reflects the contestation of human rights norms and a growing division in the UN, yet supporting the convention at this point also enables long-term influence on its implementation.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/blog.prif.org\/en\/2024\/12\/09\/between-a-rock-and-a-hard-place-the-un-cybercrime-convention\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"PRIF BLOG\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/HSFK.PRIF\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2024-12-09T15:12:25+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/blog.prif.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/UNGenf-LH_Lena-Herbst_Blogneu_Zuschnit.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1875\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1025\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Anja P. 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Jakobi\",\"description\":\"Prof. Dr. Anja P. Jakobi ist Gastprofessorin am PRIF und Direktorin des Instituts f\u00fcr Internationale Beziehungen (IIR) an der TU Braunschweig. Ihre Forschungsschwerpunkte sind Global Governance, ihre Akteure, Politiken und Prozesse, insbesondere im Zusammenhang mit Kriminalit\u00e4t und Sicherheit. \/\/ Prof. Dr. Anja P. Jakobi is Visiting Professor at PRIF and Head of the Institute of International Relations (IIR) at the TU Braunschweig. Her research focuses on global governance, its actors, policies, and processes, particularly linked to crime and security.\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/blog.prif.org\/en\/author\/ajakobi\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Between a Rock and a Hard Place: The UN Cybercrime Convention - PRIF BLOG","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/blog.prif.org\/en\/2024\/12\/09\/between-a-rock-and-a-hard-place-the-un-cybercrime-convention\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Between a Rock and a Hard Place: The UN Cybercrime Convention - PRIF BLOG","og_description":"In December 2024, UN members will vote on a worldwide Cybercrime Convention negotiated since 2019. While the convention is problematic, this Spotlight shows why a conditional acceptance nonetheless seems the best way forward. For this purpose, we first present the different meanings of cybercrime and outline the existing regulatory framework. We then examine the UN negotiations and the possible human rights implications of the convention, showing that it reflects the contestation of human rights norms and a growing division in the UN, yet supporting the convention at this point also enables long-term influence on its implementation.","og_url":"https:\/\/blog.prif.org\/en\/2024\/12\/09\/between-a-rock-and-a-hard-place-the-un-cybercrime-convention\/","og_site_name":"PRIF BLOG","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/HSFK.PRIF","article_published_time":"2024-12-09T15:12:25+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1875,"height":1025,"url":"https:\/\/blog.prif.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/UNGenf-LH_Lena-Herbst_Blogneu_Zuschnit.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Anja P. 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Jakobi","description":"Prof. Dr. Anja P. Jakobi ist Gastprofessorin am PRIF und Direktorin des Instituts f\u00fcr Internationale Beziehungen (IIR) an der TU Braunschweig. Ihre Forschungsschwerpunkte sind Global Governance, ihre Akteure, Politiken und Prozesse, insbesondere im Zusammenhang mit Kriminalit\u00e4t und Sicherheit. \/\/ Prof. Dr. Anja P. Jakobi is Visiting Professor at PRIF and Head of the Institute of International Relations (IIR) at the TU Braunschweig. 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