The UN Cybercrime Convention – A way to bring Russia to (the International Court of) Justice?

In October 2025, at a large ceremony organized in Hanoi, 72 states signed the U.N. Cybercrime Convention (UNCC, or Hanoi Convention), the first U.N.-wide convention to combat cybercrime and increase cooperation in this area. Although at least 40 states must submit their instrument of ratification for the UNCC to enter into force, the signing ceremony bought things one step closer and was already lauded by many states as finalizing the intense but fruitful negotiations, resulting in a text that harmonizes cybercrime legislation and enforcement powers globally. Not everyone celebrated, however, with human rights activists and others arguing that the Convention could be abused by totalitarian states in bringing down dissidents.

Russia took the lead in launching the treaty negotiations that resulted in the UNCC, formally initiating the process at the U.N. General Assembly in 2019, gaining support from many developing states, including those who saw it as a response to the lack of international cybercrime legislation in some regions. However, observers also noted Russia may have an additional motive in advancing the Convention: to globalize a system of “international information security” modeled on the Russian approach.

Yet, by agreeing to the inclusion of a judicial settlement clause in the Convention, Russia may have opened a new route by which it can be brought in front of the International Court of Justice (ICJ) for disputes surrounding cyber operations. This is particularly notable in light of Russia’s well-documented role as a leading state actor in conducting cyber operations worldwide, both in sponsoring and facilitating cybercriminal activity and in conducting a broad range of malicious cyber operations through its intelligence services.

Read more at Just Security