Description:

The 2001 Council of Europe's (CoE) Cybercrime Convention (also known as the Budapest Convention) has been influential across Latin America and Europe as the first international treaty addressing internet and computer crime by harmonizing national laws. The Budapest Convention has acted as a model for cybercrime regulation and production of electronic evidence in various countries in the region.

Since 2018, digital rights activists and organizations from all over the world have demanded space for civil society expert input into discussions on the Second Additional Protocol to the Budapest Convention. Despite several attempts of participation and alerts by global civil society, a final text was approved leaving untouched many of the most problematic provisions.

While new discussions on cybercrime advance at the global level, civil society organizations (CSOs) such as the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF), the Al Sur consortium of 11 CSOs that defend digital rights and Derechos Digitales have worked together to produce evidence and raise new concerns regarding the influence of the Budapest Cybercrime Convention in Latin America and the potential negative impacts of its Second Additional Protocol. They have established relevant dialogues with private actors and organizations from different parts of the world, including EuroISPA, the pan European organization of national ISP associations, representing over 2000 ISPs from all across Europe.

This session will discuss the potential effects of the Second Additional Protocol as well as the learnings from the negotiation process, taking into account Latin American and European perspectives and trying to identify spaces for shared learning and multi-stakeholder collaboration, as well as contextual particularities that should be taken into account in global policy debates. First, panelists will set the scene on the situation of many Latin American countries and the EU by exploring how this global cyber norm is impacting national discussions and policies on cybercrime and cross-border access to information.. Second, the session will explore strategies to mitigate negative implications in the national implementation of the protocol.