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Azerbaijan becomes the first country to ratify the UN Convention against Cybercrime

10 February 2026 14:50 (UTC +04:00)

On February 10, the Milli Majlis adopted the draft Law on the approval of the United Nations Convention “Against Cybercrime”, submitted by the President of the Republic of Azerbaijan, Ilham Aliyev. As a result, Azerbaijan has become the leading country in the Convention’s ratification process, APA reports.

As the outcome of many years of intensive efforts by the international community, Azerbaijan played a particularly active role in the preparation of the final draft of the UN Convention “Against Cybercrime.”

The delegation, which included representatives of the State Security Service, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the State Service for Special Communications and Information Security, and other state bodies, demonstrated a constructive and principled stance during multilateral negotiations and made a substantive contribution to shaping the text of the document.

The Convention “Against Cybercrime” was adopted by the UN General Assembly on December 24, 2024.

Regarded as the Convention of the 21st century, the UN Convention “Against Cybercrime” is the first international document to establish a unified, legally binding global framework for combating cybercrime.

The Convention was signed by 74 states during the official signing ceremony held in October 2025 in Hanoi, the capital of Vietnam, including the United Kingdom, France, China, Australia, Belgium, Türkiye, Poland, Russia, Spain, the UAE, Sweden, and others. In addition, pursuant to a relevant Decree of the President of the Republic of Azerbaijan, the Convention was signed on behalf of Azerbaijan by the Head of the State Security Service.

The Convention must be approved by national parliaments, and states must complete their internal legal procedures in order to accede to this international legal framework. Azerbaijan is currently the first country to have completed this process.

The ratification of the Convention will strengthen the activities of security and law enforcement agencies. The document regulates international legal procedures related to electronic evidence and enhances the effectiveness of transnational investigations. Emergency international cooperation mechanisms will enable a rapid response to cybercrime.

According to the official UN website, Azerbaijan is also the only country that signed the Convention with reservations, which reflects a particularly professional legal approach to international procedures.

Overall, the Convention aims to expand global coordination, standards, and legal cooperation in the fight against cybercrime.