Virtual Activism attended the first consultation with the Ad Hoc Committee to Elaborate a Comprehensive International Convention on Countering the Use of Information and Communications Technologies for Criminal Purposes. The session was the First Intersessional Consultation, as mandated by operative paragraph 10 of General Assembly resolution 75/282, 24-25 March 2022, and it took place at the Vienna International Centre, Vienna, Austria.
There were some excellent interventions, especially by the Electronic Frontier Foundation and by the EU, the latter for the Budapest Convention. Virtual Activism attended virtually, and made an intervention about specifying the definition of cyber crime and ensuring it does not contravene with any prior human rights conventions because in some countries we have people arrested for the pretense of committing cyber crimes. I also stressed the importance of government accountability and responsibility. It is therefore imperative to have safeguards against misuse of the convention to justify arrests and at times, even executions.
Among the speakers at the session were Article 19, Access Now, Foundation for International Blockchain and Real Estate Expertise (FIBREE), University for Peace and the International Conference on Cyberlaw, Cybercrime & Cybersecurity, the Interpol and Microsoft.
A follow-up meeting will be organized soon.
