Through its resolution 74/247, the General Assembly decided to establish an open-ended ad hoc intergovernmental committee of experts, representative of all regions, to elaborate a comprehensive international convention on countering the use of information and communications technologies for criminal purposes, taking into full consideration existing international instruments and efforts at the national, regional and international levels on combating the use of information and communications technologies for criminal purposes, in particular the work and outcomes of the open-ended intergovernmental Expert Group to Conduct a Comprehensive Study on Cybercrime.
Pursuant to General Assembly resolution 74/247, the ad hoc committee convened a three-day organizational session in May 2021, in New York, in order to agree on an outline and modalities for its further activities, to be submitted to the General Assembly at its seventy-fifth session for its consideration and approval. The organizational session was originally scheduled to take place in August 2020 but due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, the General Assembly decided through first its decision 74/567 of 14 August 2020 and then 75/555 of 15 January 2021 to postpone the organizational session of ad hoc committee to 10-12 May 2021.
On May 26 2021 the General Assembly adopted resolution 75/282, entitled "Countering the use of information and communications technologies for criminal purposes."
In this resolution, the General Assembly decided, inter alia, that the Ad Hoc Committee shall convene at least six sessions, of 10 days each, to commence in January 2022, a concluding session in New York, and conclude its work in order to provide a draft convention to the General Assembly at its seventy-eighth session; it further decided that the Committee shall hold the first, third and sixth negotiating sessions in New York and the second, fourth and fifth sessions in Vienna, and shall be guided by the rules of procedure of the General Assembly.
In line with decision 76/552 of the General Assembly, the Ad Hoc Committee held a one-day meeting on organizational matters on 24 February 2022, and its first session from 28 February to 11 March 2022.
The Ad Hoc Committee approved the road map and mode of work for the Committee at its first session, held from 28 February to 11 March 2022. The road map and mode of work for the Ad Hoc Committee is contained in Annex II to document A/AC.291/7. Accordingly, the Ad Hoc Committee held six negotiating sessions and a concluding session as well as five intersessional consultations.
A concluding session was held in New York from 29 January to 9 February 2024. In that session, the Ad Hoc Committee decided to suspend its work and recommended to the General Assembly that a reconvened concluding session be held at a later date to allow the Committee to finalize its work.
In accordance with General Assembly decision 78/549, the reconvened concluding session was held in New York from 29 July to 9 August 2024. In this session, the Committee approved a draft General Assembly resolution to which the approved draft text of the Convention (A/78/986- A/AC.291/28) is annexed, for adoption by the General Assembly. It also considered interpretative notes on certain articles of the draft Convention and agreed to include them in the report of the session as an annex. Next, the draft resolution containing the text of the convention will be considered by the General Assembly.
A Frequently Asked Questions document with information on the process of elaboration of an international convention on countering the use of information and communications technologies for criminal purposes is available here (status: 4 October 2024).
|
Position |
Group |
Name and Country |
|
Chair |
African Group |
H.E. Ms. Faouzia Boumaiza Mebarki (Algeria) |
|
Vice-Chair |
African Group |
H.E. Mr. Mohamed Hamdy Elmolla (Egypt) |
|
Vice-Chair |
African Group |
Mr. Terlumun George-Maria Tyendezwa (Nigeria) |
|
Vice-Chair |
Asia-Pacific Group |
Mr. Zhen SHANG (China) |
|
Vice-Chair |
Asia-Pacific Group |
Mr. WARISAWA Koichi (Japan) |
|
Vice-Chair |
Eastern-European Group |
Mr. Markko Künnapu (Estonia) |
|
Vice-Chair |
Eastern-European Group |
H.E. Ms. Dominika Krois (Poland) |
|
Vice-Chair |
Eastern-European Group |
Mr. Dmitry Bukin (Russian Federation) |
|
Vice-Chair |
GRULAC |
H.E. Mr. Claudio Peguero Castillo (Dominican Republic) |
|
Vice-Chair |
GRULAC |
H.E. Ms. Sabra Amari Murillo Centeno (Nicaragua) |
|
Vice-Chair |
GRULAC |
Mr. Eric do Val Lacerda Sogocio (Brazil) |
|
Vice-Chair |
WEOG |
Ms. Briony Daley Whitworth (Australia) |
|
Vice-Chair |
WEOG |
H.E. Mr. Miguel de Almeida e Sousa (Portugal) |
|
Vice-Chair |
WEOG |
H.E. Ms. Deborah A. McCarthy (United States) |
|
Rapporteur |
Asia-Pacific Group |
Interested global and regional intergovernmental organizations and non-governmental organizations in consultative status with the Economic and Social Council are invited to participate in the work of the Ad Hoc Committee.
Other interested relevant non-governmental organizations, civil society organizations, academic institutions and private sector organizations (as per paragraph 9 of General Assembly resolution 75/282), which were approved by the Ad Hoc Committee are also invited to participate in the sessions. You can access the list of other relevant organizations here. The decision of the Committee including the list of organizations is contained in Annex I to document A/AC.291/6.
Please find general information about the participation of multi-stakeholders here. For specific information related to the meetings of the Ad Hoc Committee please visit the dedicated page for each event.
UNODC, through the Organized Crime and Illicit Trafficking Branch, Division for Treaty Affairs, serves as secretariat for the Ad Hoc Committee and can be contacted at cybercrimeahc@un.org.
