cybercrime
This joint stakeholder report prepared by APC and Rudi International for the 47th session of the Universal Periodic Review (UPR) focuses on human rights in the digital context and the state of civic space, including online, in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).
Organisations spanning civil society, industry and the technical community, including APC, urge governments to consider withholding support for the draft UN cybercrime treaty in its current incarnation. If adopted without major changes, this treaty's risks far outweigh its potential benefits.
Looking at cybercrime from a gender lens means to recognise and take into account the lived experiences of women and people of diverse sexualities and gender expressions, to understand their needs and priorities, and address the differentiated impacts of cybercrime.
The statement's signatories, including APC, stress that the proposed UN Cybercrime Convention must be narrowly focused on tackling cybercrime, and not used as a tool to undermine human rights. Unless meaningful changes are made to address current shortcomings, the Convention should be rejected.
Governments everywhere are using cybercrime laws to criminalise women and LGBTQIA+ people, increase surveillance and reduce freedom of expression. A new Derechos Digitales and APC report discusses 11 such cases in nine countries and calls for rethinking the nature of these laws.
A gender approach to cybersecurity is a fundamental tool for policy that focuses on the human rights of people in cyberspace. But, most notably, it is a perspective that seeks to make cybersecurity responsive to the complex and differentiated needs of people when systems of oppression intersect.
This exploratory report seeks to contribute to ongoing and future discussions concerning gender and cybercrime by providing concrete evidence of how national cybercrime laws have been used to silence and criminalise women and LGBTQIA+ people around the world.