On 29 July 2024, the reconvened session of the Ad Hoc Committee (AHC) to conclude negotiations on a new UN convention on cybercrime will begin. The AHC is mandated to submit a draft convention to the UN General Assembly by 9 August.

Member states had intended to conclude negotiations at the scheduled final session in February 2024. However, disagreements on several key issues hampered consensus and delegates are coming into this meeting with the aim of closing these gaps.

Since the AHC began its negotiations in 2022, competing visions for this convention have not been reconciled. Some countries have pushed for a treaty with a narrow scope and clear rights protections and safeguards. Others, who have pushed for an expanded instrument with intrusive and far-reaching powers (including through possible supplementary protocols), will be pleased with the Chair’s new text and resolution to be discussed next week. The divergence of views may again delay the process next week, or the final text may ultimately be decided by a vote. At this stage, it is difficult to know what will happen during the two-week session and whether the AHC will emerge with a treaty or end in uncertainty, or even whether the life of the AHC will be extended further into the future.

Related analysis

We have reported on and analyzed the negotiations since the AHC began its work in 2021. See our latest and forthcoming analysis below ahead of the next session:

• Our new briefing paper assesses the negotiation of the supplementary protocols to the UN Convention Against Transnational Organized Crime and the lessons delegates should take away as they head into the reconvened final session of the AHC. The background, modalities and implications of a potential additional protocol to the cybercrime convention remain unclear, but the protocol is likely to be at the centre of discussions in New York next week.
• As part of our podcast series on the UN and organized crime, a forthcoming special episode discusses the role of safeguards in promoting cooperation. Leading experts in international cooperation explain the need for safeguards and how the convention can help develop a common understanding of minimum guarantees to build trust between states and enable cooperation.
• Our latest article delves into in the geopolitics ahead of the upcoming session and explores why the treaty’s current title risks clashing with existing legal frameworks at best, and redefining cybercrime at worst.

The GI-TOC will attend the session and regularly report on proceedings. We will keep our eyes and ears to the ground to give you the latest news, in your inbox, throughout the session.

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To access the updates from the concluding session of the Cyber AHC (between 29 January and 9 February 2024) click here.