On 3 and 4 February, the Council of Europe organised an exchange of views with the 26 members of the Digital Partnership, an initiative aimed at fostering cooperation with Internet and IT companies, and their business associations, to promote respect for human rights.
The event, held in the format of a workshop, brought together partner representatives and Council of Europe’s sectoral experts, working in various human rights and rule of law topics with a view to discuss cooperation for 2022-2023.
Topics such as "Violence against women and gender equality", "Freedom of expression and content moderation (Media and Internet Governance)", "Anti-discrimination, diversity and inclusion", "Privacy, data protection and the responsible use of data", "Education policy in the digital age", "Environment, sustainability, corporate social responsibility", "Children’s Rights", "Artificial intelligence and the impact of digital transformation" were on the agenda. Among these, on day one a session was dedicated to "Combating crime in cyberspace and beyond", with interventions from the Cybercrime Division, Trafficking in Human Beings Division and Counter-Terrorism Division of the Council of Europe, as well as from digital partners at ISOC, Microsoft, Kaspersky Lab, ICC and Cloudflare.
A series of events are planned by the Cybercrime Division and the Cybercrime Programme Office of the Council of Europe (C-PROC), in co-operation with the Cybercrime Convention Committee, on the implementation of the Second Additional Protocol to the Budapest Convention on Cybercrime with respect to public/private cooperation.
Since its launch in 2016, the partners have been invited to join Council of Europe activities related to the fight against cybercrime, data protection, artificial intelligence, freedom of expression, promotion of equality and non-discrimination, education and the protection of children.
New partners in the process of joining the partnership include the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC), the LEGO Group and Thales. Sberbank recently became a new member.
Second Additional Protocol to the Budapest Convention on Cybercrime
In Focus
