General Assembly

A Resolution on combating the criminal misuse of information technologies was adopted by the General Assembly on December 4, 2000 Resolution 55/63, including as follows:

"(a) States should ensure that their laws and practice eliminate safe havens for those who criminally misuse information technologies.

(d) Legal systems should protect the confidentiality, integrity, and availability of data and computer systems from unauthorized impairment and ensure that criminal abuse is penalized."

Resolution 56/121 was adopted on December 19, 2001, including recommendations on the prevention and combat criminal misuse of information technologies.

United Nations Office for Drugs and Crime (UNODC)

The UN Crime Congresses have looked at technical issues and criminal enforcement of computer misuse for at least the last four Congresses. The United Nations adopted in 1990 a resolution on computer crime legislation at the 8th U.N. Congress on the Prevention of Crime and the Treatment of Offenders in Havana, Cuba. The most recent Congress in Bangkok, Thailand (2005), focused on issues of computer-related crime in a special workshop. The Congress report and background paper of workshop six are both available from the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime. The Bangkok Declaration no. 16 reads as follows:

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“We note that, in the current period of globalization, information technology and the rapid development of new telecommunication and computer network systems have been accompanied by the abuse of those technologies for criminal purposes. We therefore welcome efforts to enhance and supplement existing cooperation to prevent, investigate and prosecute high-technology and computer related crime, including by developing partnerships with the private sector. We recognize the important contribution of the United Nations to regional and other international forums in the fight against cybercrime and invite the Commission on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice, taking into account that experience, to examine the feasibility of providing further assistance in that area under the aegis of the United Nations in partnership with other similarly focused organizations.”