Advocacy Handbook for the Non Governmental Organisations: The Council of Europe's Cyber-Crime Convention 2001

Cyber-Rights & Cyber-Liberties releases report on the CyberCrime Convention
2001
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.

The Report is released as a pdf file and can be obtained through
http://www.cyber-rights.org/cybercrime/

For further information contact: Dr. Yaman Akdeniz
Director, Cyber-Rights & Cyber-Liberties
email: lawya@cyber-rights.org
Tel: +44 (0)7798 865116 Fax: +44 (0)7092199011
http://www.cyber-rights.org / http://www.cyber-rights.net

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