UNITED NATIONS, August 21. /TASS/. Russia insists that the draft UN convention of information and communications technologies include provisions on fighting extremism, Nazism and terrorism, deputy head of the Russian delegation Dmitry Bukin said on Monday at the sixth session of the Ad Hoc Committee to Elaborate a Comprehensive International Convention on Countering the Use of Information and Communications Technologies for Criminal Purposes.
Addressing the opening meeting, Bukin said that the document submitted for the session’s consideration requires serious amendments. "We insist that provisions on fighting terrorism, extremism, Nazism, calls for armed activities, incitement to commit suicide, and illegal drug and weapons trafficking be returned to the text," he said.
"To overcome the digital gap, or to be more precise, neocolonial practices, throughout the 2010s Russia insisted on talks between UN member states on organizing a convention on fighting cybercrime," he said. "The most important thing is to create conditions for the closest cooperation between law enforcement agencies not only in investigating but also in preventing crimes committed with the use of information and communications technologies."
According to Bukin, not all the participants in the session share Russia’s position. "Their actual motives are to preserve their domination in the information space by means of technologies that make it possible to control other countries and their citizens. Such delegations are hiding behind human rights slogans but cannot clearly explain why they are against cooperation within the UN against terrorism, extremism, drug trafficking and other serious crimes," he went on to say. "These countries regulate these matters between themselves and don’t let human rights stand in the way."
The sixth session of the Ad Hoc Committee to Elaborate a Comprehensive International Convention on Countering the Use of Information and Communications Technologies for Criminal Purposes opened at the UN New York headquarters on Monday. Russia put forward its draft, which was supported by a number of states. However, the document that was submitted for consideration "reflects primarily the interests of prosperous developed countries" and "doesn’t take into account the development of information and communications technologies, which are extensively used for calling for violating public order, trafficking weapons and drugs, and in terrorist and extremist purposes," the Russian diplomat noted.