Leeds, 01 December, 2003 - Cyber-Rights & Cyber-Liberties,
released today an Advocacy Handbook for the Non Governmental Organisations: The
Council of Europe's Cyber-Crime Convention 2001 and the additional protocol on
the criminalisation of acts of a racist or xenophobic nature committed through
computer systems, December 2003.
The Cyber-Crime Convention 2001 and its additional protocol has been developed
by the Council of Europe, an international and well respected organisation with
a primary mission to strengthen democracy, human rights, and the rule of law
throughout its member states. Although the Cyber-Crime Convention states in the
preamble that a proper balance needs to be ensured between the interests of law
enforcement and respect for fundamental human rights, the balance resolutely and
regrettably favours the former claimes Cyber-Rights & Cyber-Liberties.
While the CoE's concerns in relation to cyber-crimes and its desire to address
criminal law and mutual assistance in criminal matters are shared by many, any
co-ordinated policy initiative at an international level should ideally aim to
offer the best protection for individual rights and liberties. Lamentably, this
has not been the case.
This advocacy handbook for the NGOs written by Dr. Yaman Akdeniz, the director
of Cyber-Rights & Cyber-Liberties provides a policy analysis of the Cyber-Crime
Convention 2001 and its first additional protocol from a human rights
perspective for policy specialists, NGOs, and human rights activists within the
45 member states of the Council of Europe. Compatibility problems with the
European Convention on Human Rights and implications for freedom of expression,
privacy of communications and data protection will be the main focus of this
critical analysis. The appendices include other useful information that could be
relied upon while NGOs and policy activists lobby their individual governments
in relation to the implementation of the Cyber-Crime.
