United Nations Convention Against Cybercrime

Prelims: Current events of national and international importance

Why in News?

The Supreme Court recently asked the Centre to take a call on ratifying the United Nations Convention against Cybercrime.

Adoption - The Convention was adopted by the UN General Assembly (UNGA) on December 24, 2024.
Signing Ceremony - It was opened for signature at a high-level conference in Hanoi, Vietnam, on October 25, 2025, where 72 UN member states signed the treaty.
Key Objectives - The Convention is the first comprehensive global treaty on cybercrime, aiming to address the borderless nature of criminal activity involving Information and Communications Technology (ICT) systems.
- Harmonization - To harmonize national approaches by requiring States Parties to establish certain criminal offenses in their domestic laws.
- International Cooperation- To facilitate rapid and effective cross-border cooperation in the investigation and prosecution of crimes.
- Evidence Sharing- To establish frameworks for the timely collection and sharing of electronic evidence for serious crimes, even when those crimes are not "cyber-dependent.”
- Capacity Building -To promote technical assistance and capacity building, particularly for developing nations, to help them implement the provisions.
Enforcement - It will enter into force 90 days after the 40^th State ratified its provisions.

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