A UN treaty on cybercrime en route
Date: May 04, 2022Source: Computer Crime Research Center
A UN treaty on cybercrime is after years of discussion finally on its way. The UN General Assembly voted in December 2019 to begin negotiating a treaty ??“ a treaty that focuses on cybercrime, but also has the potential to develop numerous policies on a global scale with important significance for human rights.
The treaty is an important step towards helping countries realize some of the sustainable development goals. But what is cybercrime?
WHAT IS CYBERCRIME?
There is no international definition of cybercrime or cyberattacks. According to UNODC, the UN Office on Drugs and Crime, offences typically cluster around the following categories: offences that are computer-related and content-related, and offences related to infringements of copyright etc.
Broadly, cybercrime can be described as having cyber-dependent offences, cyber-enabled offences and, as a specific crime-type, online child sexual exploitation and abuse.
While there is no specific Sustainable Development Goal to address cybercrime, the latter can be seen as an obstacle to achieving a number of targets. One of them is SDG 16, Peace, justice and strong institutions, and its subgoals (targets 16.1, 16.4, 16.5) which relate to violence and other forms of crime, such as corruption and arms trafficking.
In addition, certain criminal activities can be facilitated by information and communications technology, such as the recruitment of victims of trafficking in persons (target 10.8) or sexual exploitation of women, which would characterize a form of violence against women (target 5.2).
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