Activities to support civil society's participation in the negotiation of the UN Treaty on Cybercrime Phase 2

Descriptions

The UN is developing the process for negotiating a treaty on cybercrime, and the UK is keen to ensure that civil society can participate in the negotiation. In January 2023 the fourth session will take place which marks the beginning of text-based negotiation. In sessions 1-3 which took place in 2022 Member States shared their views on what could go into the treaty, we are now entering the phase of narrowing down the text. In the Integrated Review the UK committed to work with civil society and other partners to protect democratic values, as part of the force for good agenda, and in the National Cyber Strategy we committed to "champion an inclusive, multistakeholder approach to debates about the future of cyberspace and digital technology". For this reason, we want to provide practical support for civil society so that they can participate in these discussions which are a central part of the international discussion on cyberspace. From February to September, we ran a campaign aimed at encouraging civil society participation by supporting the NGO the Global Initiative Against Transnational Crime to produce analysis of the proceedings and host side events. This campaign was successful as we were able to bring the voices of civil society and academia into the discussion through papers, podcasts and side events. Through this campaign we were also able to raise the profile of Home Office priority issues such as tackling Child Sexual Abuse Material. As we move into more technical discussions, we want to run a second phase of this programme to increase access to expert knowledge, particularly in the face of resource intensive informal negotiations. The second phase of the programme will deliver one policy paper and two podcast episodes that will breakdown the discussion in the negotiating sessions thereby making it more accessible for a range of organisations. It will also facilitate GI's participation in the sessions, and engagement with other civil society networks ensuring that GI can bring a wide range of perspectives to its statements to the plenary. Finally, it will fund initial work on safeguards, drawing in the perspectives of a range of experts who may not have time to fully participate in the negotiations but who's expert knowledge will add to the discussion.