Foreign

Home page

Foreign

UN General Assembly adopts landmark convention on cybercrime

25 December 2024 10:46 (UTC +04:00)

The General Assembly on December 24 adopted the United Nations Convention against Cybercrime, a landmark global treaty aimed at strengthening international cooperation to combat cybercrime and protecting societies from digital threats.

The agreement on the legally binding treaty marked the culmination of a five-year effort by UN Member States, with inputs from civil society, information security experts, academia and the private sector.

UN Secretary-General António Guterres welcomed the adoption of the Convention – the first international criminal justice treaty to have been negotiated in over 20 years.

“This treaty is a demonstration of multilateralism succeeding during difficult times and reflects the collective will of Member States to promote international cooperation to prevent and combat cybercrime,” his spokesperson said in a statement.

The statement added that the Convention “creates an unprecedented platform for collaboration” in the exchange of evidence, protection for victims and prevention, while safeguarding human rights online.

“The Secretary-General trusts that the new treaty will promote a safe cyberspace and calls on all States to join the Convention and to implement it in cooperation with relevant stakeholders.”

Note that in the final session of the "Ad Hoc" Committee on the preparation of the International Convention, held this year at the UN Headquarters in New York, Azerbaijan was represented by a delegation from the State Security Service, the State Service for Special Communications and Information Security, and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

During this period, the Azerbaijani delegation made relevant proposals on issues considered fundamental by the Committee, including the criminalization of crimes committed through information and communication technologies, international legal and technical assistance obligations, protection, collection, and presentation of electronic evidence, and international cooperation and all the proposals presented by Azerbaijan were accepted by the Committee and were reflected in the text of the final Convention draft.

The UN Convention on Cybercrime is considered the convention of the new century.