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Press release on the Fourth Session of the UN Ad Hoc Committee to Elaborate a Comprehensive International Convention on Countering the Use of Information and Communications Technologies for Criminal Purposes

23 January 2023 19:05
86-23-01-2023

On January 20, the fourth session of the UN Ad Hoc Intergovernmental Committee to Elaborate a Comprehensive International Convention on Countering the Use of Information and Communications Technologies for Criminal Purposes (hereinafter "the Ad Hoc Committee"), which was set up at Russia's initiative, concluded its session in Vienna.

During the session, several UN member countries submitted proposals relating to the provisions of the first three chapters of the future document, which are Criminalisation, General Provisions and Procedural Measures and Law Enforcement. Work at the session was based on the negotiating document, which was prepared by Chair of the Ad Hoc Committee Faouzia Mebarki, Algeria. It is important that many provisions in the negotiating document are consonant with the draft convention that Russia submitted to the UN in July 2021.

An international agreement like this is much needed because of the high penetration levels of information and communications technologies around the world and how quickly it is developing. Criminals are using information and communications technologies on an increasingly wider scale, from phone fraud to terrorism.

The future convention is expected to become an instrument of effective international cooperation in countering cybercrime, set universal legislative standards, offer law enforcement practices and ensure that people are reliably protected against this type of crime. Therefore, the Russian Federation, jointly with like-minded [nations] and developing countries, is seeking to secure that the document being drafted can be applied on a broad scale and that it contains the commitment of countries to safeguard their national sovereignty and counter the use of information and communications technologies for terrorist or extremist purposes, or to justify Nazism, or distribute drugs or weapons.

The United States and its satellites oppose this approach as they seek to entrench the West's technological superiority in cyberspace, untie the hands of their own intelligence services and IT giants, so they feel free to engage in blackmail, sabotage and the uncontrolled collection of user data around the world, and also to scale down international cooperation as much as possible by pushing through purely Western-style human rights standards.

Russia, in close coordination with like-minded [nations], will continue working to draft an effective and comprehensive document with an eye to national law and the UN Charter principles during the next session in Vienna, which is scheduled for April 11-21, 2023, and will be seeking to ensure that the convention is given the status of a legally binding document, and it will also do its best to deliver on the Ad Hoc Committee's mandate, that is, to present a draft convention at the 78th Session of the UN General Assembly in 2024.