Statement by: Ms Yunei Kim, First Secretary, Australian Mission to the UN

As delivered

Thank you Chair.

Australia welcomes the consensus adoption of the Convention Against Cybercrime, recognising the dedication and efforts of all delegations throughout the extensive negotiations and consultations that have gone into shaping the Convention.

Like many other states, there are elements that Australia would have liked included in this convention that are not. And there are parts of this convention which Australia would have preferred to be set out differently. 

However, given the robust safeguards that are secured in this text – particularly:

• Article 6, which sets a uniquely high bar for human rights protection in criminal justice treaties, 
• Article 24, which guarantees limits on the exercise of procedural measures,
• Article 36, which allows for conditions to protect personal data,
• Article 40 (22), which provides protection from discrimination on account of a person’s sex, race, language, religion, nationality, ethnic origin or political opinions,

Australia is pleased to join consensus to adopt the Convention against Cybercrime.

Since the beginning, Australia has emphasised that establishing trust required for international cooperation on cybercrime requires commensurate guardrails.

Ensuring compliance with human rights, when operationalising this convention, will be critical to ensuring the credibility of, and confidence in, the mechanisms and cooperation frameworks it creates. Effective cooperation under this convention can only flow when there is confidence that all states are robustly implementing these safeguards.

This convention has the potential to establish global baseline standards for combatting cybercrime, and an invaluable opportunity to secure widespread international cooperation to investigate and prosecute cybercrime.

Of particular note, the Convention establishes, for the first time under the auspices of the UN, new offences that address the significant harms caused by technology facilitated abuse such as child sexual exploitation and abuse material, the grooming of children online, and non-consensual sharing of intimate images.

Australia remains firmly committed to working collectively to address cybercrime, including through the UN. Adoption of this convention is not the end of our work.

Moving forward, Member States and the stakeholder community must work together to ensure this convention is implemented in a way that upholds human rights, through capacity building for implementation, and through the establishment of the Conference of States Parties, its review mechanism, and any future negotiations for additional protocols.

Thank you.