Media Briefing: As UN Cybercrime Treaty Negotiations Enter Final Phase, Time is Running Short to Bolster Human Rights Protections

Draft Text Enhances Government Surveillance Across Borders but Offers Weak Checks and Balances

New York—On Wednesday, August 23, at 1:30 pm Eastern Time (10:30 am Pacific Time) experts from Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF), Human Rights Watch, and four international allies will brief reporters about critical flaws in the draft UN Cybercrime Treaty that threaten human rights. The treaty, under negotiation by UN Member States for more than a year, is intended to foster international cooperation against cybercrime. It will facilitate the rewriting of criminal laws around the world, potentially expanding the criminalization of online speech and cross border surveillance by law enforcement. Without strong human rights safeguards, the draft treaty could severely undermine the privacy, freedom of expression, and other fundamental rights of millions of people, in particular journalists, activists, and persons and groups facing discrimination and marginalization. Speakers at the briefing include experts on human and digital rights who are participating in treaty negotiations as observers. They will highlight key concerns emerging in the first week of the treaty’s sixth negotiating session, where the draft text will be reviewed. The session is scheduled at the UN in New York from August 21 through September 1. The briefing will be livestreamed from New York. Reporters are invited to attend in person or participate online. Registration details for online and in-person participation are below.

 WHAT: Media Briefing on critical human rights issues at stake in the draft UN Cybercrime Treaty. To join the news conference remotely, please register from the following link to receive the webinar ID and password: https://hrworg.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_M7XzpMzVQKKyElsF7g-MIA Media accreditation for members of the press attending in person can be obtained here: https://www.un.org/en/media/accreditation/accreditation.shtml  SPEAKERS: Deborah Brown, Senior Researcher and Advocate on Technology and Rights, Human Rights Watch Raman Jit Singh Chima, Asia Policy Director and Senior International Counsel, Access Now Victor Kapiyo, Lawyer and Human Rights Defender, Kenya ICT Action Network Katitza Rodriguez, Policy Director for Global Privacy, Electronic Frontier Foundation Carey Shenkman, Human Rights Attorney, Article 19 Moderator: Ioannis Kouvakas, Senior Legal Officer and Assistant General Counsel, Privacy International WHEN: Wednesday, August 23 at 1:30 p.m. EST/10:30 am PST/18:00 GMT WHERE: United Nations Correspondents Association (UNCA) Briefing Room United Nations Secretariat Building 405 East 42nd Street Room S-308 New York, NY 1001 For a UN Cybercrime Treaty timeline: https://www.eff.org/pages/un-cybercrime-treaty-timeline For more about the UN Cybercrime Treaty: https://www.eff.org/issues/un-cybercrime-treaty