Both the United Nations convention against Transnational Organized Crime (UNTOC) and against Corruption (UNCAC) created comprehensive legal instruments from broad phenomena to improve cooperation against transnational organized crime and corruption.
However, neither instrument defines ‘transnational organized crime’ or ‘corruption’. To help contextualize the ongoing debate within the UNODC (United Nations Office on Grugs and Crime) Ad Hoc Committee (AHC), the event summarizes approaches adopted in the negotiation of UNTOC, its protocols and UNCAC, with a view to presenting lessons for how a cybercrime treaty could approach the challenge of defining cybercrime while providing the necessary clarity on the convention’s scope.
Sovereignty has also emerged as a key point of contention, in particular the relationship between data, e-evidence and sovereignty. The event considers UNTOC and UNCAC’s negotiation processes, and how negotiators arrived to a final position on the issue of sovereignty and jurisdiction in this context, commenting on the impact on international cooperation envisioned under these treaties – and how lessons can be applied to the cybercrime convention negotiations.
The event is based on a briefing paper available in all six languages of the UN, and takes place with a view to encouraging active discussion on the topic at hand. Lunch is also provided.
This event is part of a larger project that Chatham House is implementing with the support of Global Affairs Canada on including civil society in global cybercrime efforts.
