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The most active UN institution in reaching harmonization on global cybersecurity and cybercrime legislation is the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) in Geneva.
The UN General Assembly recognized in 2001 the need for a multi-phase World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) and asked the ITU to take the lead role in coordinating robust, multi-stakeholder participation in these events.

Phase one of WSIS occurred in Geneva in December 2003, and Phase two took place in Tunisia in 2005. Following the WSIS summits and the 2006 ITU Plenipotentiary Conference, ITU assumed an important role in coordinating to build confidence and security in the use of information and communication technologies (ICTs).
The goals adopted by the 2005 Tunis Agenda of WSIS included as follows:

“We affirm that measures undertaken to ensure Internet stability and security, to fight cybercrime and to counter spam, must protect and respect the provisions for privacy and freedom of expression as contained in the relevant parts of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the Geneva Declaration of Principles.” (paragraph 42)
“We call upon governments in cooperation with other stakeholders to develop necessary legislation for the investigation and prosecution of cybercrime, noting existing frameworks, for example, UNGA Resolutions 55/63 and 56/121 on “Combating the criminal misuse of information technologies” and regional initiatives including, but not limited to, the Council of Europe´s Convention on Cybercrime.”(paragraph 40)

The role of ITU is to seek consensus on a framework for international cooperation in cybersecurity, in order to reach for a common understanding of cybersecurity threats among countries at all stages of economic development, that includes developing and putting into action solutions aimed at addressing the global challenges to cybersecurity and cybercrime.

A Global Cybersecurity Agenda (GCA) was launched in May 2007 by the Secretary General as a global framework for dialogue and international cooperation aimed at proposing strategies for solutions to enhance security in the Information Society. GCA is the framework for proposing strategies for solutions to enhance confidence and security in the information society, under the umbrella of cybersecurity.

In order to assist the ITU’s Secretary-General in developing strategic proposals to Member States, a global High Level Experts Group (HLEG) of almost 100 persons was established in October 2007.

The HLEG delivered the Chairmans´ Report with recommendations, including on cybercrime legislation, in August 2008. The Global Strategic Report was delivered in November 2008, including strategies in five work areas: Legal measures, Technical and procedural measures, Organizational structures, Capacity building, and International cooperation.