Adoption of the UN Convention against Cybercrime – EU position

Your Excellencies, Distinguished Delegates,

I have the honour to speak on behalf of the European Union and its Member States.

The Candidate Countries North Macedonia^*, Montenegro^*, Serbia^*, Albania^*, the Republic of Moldova, Bosnia and Herzegovina^* and Georgia, align themselves with this statement.

We welcome that the Ad hoc committee reached an agreement by consensus on the draft UN Convention against Cybercrime.

Since the beginning of the negotiations, the EU and its Member States have engaged in the negotiations constructively and in good faith.

We truly believe that what we have achieved is an unprecedented instrument which will set a new standard when it comes to criminal justice instruments with a global reach.

For instance, the Convention will offer a major added value for the global fight against child sexual abuse and exploitation.

The Convention will provide an additional framework for cooperation complementing the existing ones. It will thus contribute to eliminating any remaining ‘safe havens’ for criminals.

This Convention is meant to enable international cooperation, subject to robust conditions and human rights safeguards, to prevent any potential abuse of the future Convention and ensure the respect of international human rights and fundamental freedoms. As we have repeatedly stated throughout the negotiation of this Convention, human rights safeguards are essential to create trust and enable international cooperation in criminal matters.

This is why we consider these conditions and safeguards, which are directly applicable to the procedural powers and measures that this Convention provides for, to be an integral part of the object and purpose of this Convention. We will firmly oppose any interpretation that questions this core tenet of the Convention.

The EU and its Member States will remain vigilant and will refuse any request for cooperation that does not respect the conditions and safeguards of the Convention, or in a manner contrary to its objective.

The EU and its Member States decided to join the consensus on the Convention today based on the clear and robust conditions and safeguards that allow for more effective cooperation in the fight against cybercrime while protecting human rights.

The EU and its Member States will remain engaged in the implementation of this Convention to ensure transparency and a common understanding of how the Convention should be used in practice to enable cooperation in full respect of human rights. We encourage all stakeholders to join us in this effort and are also committed to support future State Parties in its implementation.

We appreciate Viet Nam’s proposal to host the signing ceremony for this Convention. At the same time, we are concerned over the precedent that reopening an agreed text, (not just a text but that of a Convention,) may set for future negotiations. In particular, because the Convention was already agreed upon by consensus by the UN member states’ mandated body: the Ad Hoc Committee.

Even though we hear Viet Nam’s call to expect the amendment exceptional, and due only to the very targeted and non-substantial nature of being able to host the signing ceremony in Hanoi, our procedural concerns stand. We also hope that it will not delay the signature of some UN Member States with more limited resources to travel and diminish the inclusiveness that we all desire for this instrument.

Thank you, Chair.

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* North Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia, Albania and Bosnia and Herzegovina continue to be part of the Stabilisation and Association Process.

Source – Press and information team of the Delegation to the UN in New York