More than 60 countries were expected to sign the declaration on Saturday, which means it will go into force once ratified by those states.
The signing was called an "important milestone," but UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres said that it was "only the beginning."
At the opening ceremony on Saturday in Hanoi, he stated, "Every day, sophisticated scams destroy families, steal migrants, and drain billions of dollars from our economy... We need a strong, connected global response." Russian diplomats made the initial proposal for the UN Convention Against Cybercrime in 2017, and after lengthy negotiations, it was unanimously approved the following year. Critics say its broad language could lead to abuses of power and enable the cross-border repression of government critics.
Sabhanaz Rashid Diya, founder of the Tech Global Institute think tank, stated, "There were multiple concerns raised throughout the negotiation of the treaty around how it actually ends up compelling companies to share data." “It’s almost rubber-stamping a very problematic practice that has been used against journalists and in authoritarian countries,” she told AFP.
"Weak" safety measures. This week, the government of Vietnam stated that sixty nations had registered for the official signing, but did not specify which nations. But the list will probably not be limited to Russia, China, and their allies.
“Cybercrime is a real issue across the world,” Diya said. "I believe that everybody is sort of grappling with it." The far-reaching online scam industry, for example, has ballooned in Southeast Asia in recent years, with thousands of scammers estimated to be involved and victims worldwide conned out of billions of dollars annually.
“Even for the most democratic states, I think they need some degree of access to data that they’re not getting under existing mechanisms,” Diya told AFP.
Democratic countries might describe the UN convention as a “compromise document”, as it contains some human rights provisions, she added.
But these safeguards were slammed as “weak” in a letter signed by more than a dozen rights groups and other organisations.
Tech sector
Big technology companies have also raised concerns.
According to Nick Ashton-Hart, the head of the Cybersecurity Tech Accord, the delegation to the treaty talks that represents more than 160 businesses, including Meta, Dell, and India's Infosys, will not be in Hanoi. Among other objections, these businesses previously stated that the convention "allows states to cooperate on almost any criminal act they choose" and could criminalize cybersecurity researchers. Potential overreach by authorities poses “serious risks to corporate IT systems relied upon by billions of people every day”, they said during the negotiation process.
In contrast, an existing international accord, the Budapest Convention on Cybercrime, includes guidance on using it in a “rights-respecting” way, Ashton-Hart said.
The location for the signing has also raised eyebrows, given Vietnam’s record of crackdowns on dissent.
“Vietnamese authorities typically use laws to censor and silence any online expression of views critical of the country’s political leadership,” said Deborah Brown of Human Rights Watch.
“Russia has been a driving force behind this treaty and will certainly be pleased once it’s signed,” she told AFP.
“But a significant amount of cybercrime globally comes from Russia, and it has never needed a treaty to tackle cybercrime from within its borders,” Brown added.
"Russia's lack of political will in that regard cannot be compensated for by this treaty."
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