Media briefing: critical human rights issues at stake in the draft UN Cybercrime Treaty

New York — On Wednesday, August 23, at 1:30 pm Eastern Time (10:30 am Pacific Time)
experts from Access Now, Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF), Human Rights Watch, and other 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 expanding
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 people and groups who face 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 live-streamed from New York.

SPEAKERS:

• Deborah Brown, Senior Researcher and Advocate on Technology and Rights, Human Rights
  Watch
• Raman Jit Singh Chima, Global Cybersecurity Lead 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

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

CONTACT:

Katitza Rodriguez (English/Spanish): Electronic Frontier Foundation in New York,
[email protected]. Twitter/X: @txitua

Deborah Brown (English), Human Rights Watch in New York, +1-347-920-8978; or
[email protected]. Twitter/X: @deblebrown

Raman Jit Singh Chima, Global Cybersecurity Lead and Senior International Counsel at Access Now: [email protected], [email protected]. Twitter/X: @tame_wildcard