TEHRAN – The inclusion of certain provisions in the Convention on Countering the Use of ICT for Criminal Purposes under the guise of human rights obligations would only defeat the purpose of the Convention and risk it venture being dragged into politicization and selectivity of few, Iran's Ambassador to the United Nations, Amir Saeed Iravani, has stressed.

It would hinder cooperation and prevent us from protecting the human rights of victims of ICT crimes as well as the society as a whole in the face of criminals who are relentless in employing legal loopholes to victimize people, IRNA quoted Iravani as saying.

He made the remarks while attending the Reconvened concluding session of the Ad Hoc Committee on July 29.

Underscoring the importance of fighting against the use of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) for criminal purposes, he said, the joint statement delivered by Egypt on behalf of many delegations, resonates with the common objective of all states in reaching a consensus-based convention.

However, some very important outstanding issues remain to be discussed to reach a desired and acceptable text and move towards consensus.

The focus of the present meeting should be elaborating a comprehensive international convention on countering the use of information and communications technologies for criminal purposes, which is the important mandate conferred upon the Ad hoc Committee as per resolution 74/247.

Iravani noted that addressing issues that are outside the scope and purpose of this Convention would deviate us from our common main goal which is to provide the international community with a sound and robust international legal framework to counter crimes committed via information and communications technologies.

“We will continue our active engagement in the works of the committee to ensure that the final text addresses the serious concerns of my delegation and many like-minded delegates and make sure that constructive proposals presented by my delegations, together with other like-minded delegations on certain provisions, have not been ignored and deleted in the current text,” the official highlighted.

He went on to say that the current article 14 is not sufficient to protect children against the horrendous crime of child sexual exploitation online.

The main goal of the Article is to counter child sexual exploitation and prevent children from falling victim to the hands of criminals.

There should be no exception that would allow for the commission of any form of child sexual exploitation or otherwise normalize such criminal conduct, Iravani added.

However, Paragraph 3 of Article 14 manifestly defeats the purpose of the Article and visibly justifies child sexual exploitation when it is not related to a real person.

Misuse of technological advancements and materials depicting child sexual exploitation using technologies such as artificial intelligence tends to normalize child sexual exploitation and increases the possibility of perpetration of such crimes.

“We reaffirm our principled position that child sexual exploitation should be prohibited in all its forms, and Paragraph 3 of Article 14 should be deleted for that matter,” the official stated.

He also reiterated concern on the current formulation of Article 16 which did not take into account the position of many delegations who proposed or otherwise supported a paragraph to make this Article acceptable in the domestic laws of many countries.

“During the previous meeting of the Ad hoc Committee, my delegation and like-minded states proposed and supported languages that provide latitude to differences among various legal systems without undermining the purpose of the Article.

The inclusion of a caveat paragraph, as my delegation suggested before, is the minimum requirement for this Article to gain support and consensus,” he further noted.

In conclusion, I wish to assure you of my delegation’s full support and cooperation to conclude the comprehensive Convention during this session. We are committed to working together to reach a consensus and present a draft convention with robust provisions that could ensure an effective fight against the use of ICT for criminal purposes, Iravani said.

MT/MG