Hanoi Convention: Protecting human rights and civil rights in the digital environment

Photo caption — Minister of Justice Nguyen Hai Ninh speaks at the Workshop on Citizen Protection in the Digital Transformation Era. Photo: Tuan Anh/VNA

The discussion session was attended by speakers including Minister of Justice Nguyen Hai Ninh, Minister of Justice of Turkey Yılmaz Tunc, Head of the UNODC Global Cybercrime Programme Bertha Nayelly Loya Marin and a number of speakers from several countries attending the signing ceremony of the Hanoi Convention.

Speaking at the discussion session, Minister of Justice Nguyen Hai Ninh emphasized: 25 years after the United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized Crime (Palermo Convention) was adopted in Italy in 2000 - the first global legal document on preventing and combating transnational crime, the world has witnessed the birth of the next global convention in this field - the Hanoi Convention. The journey from the Palermo Convention to the Hanoi Convention is not only a symbolic legacy, but also reflects the persistent and responsible efforts of the international community in promoting multilateral cooperation, harmonizing laws and building flexible response mechanisms to the increasingly complex cross-border legal challenges of the 21st century.

According to the Minister, humanity is living in the era of the 4.0 Industrial Revolution, with breakthrough technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI), big data, blockchain and the Internet of Things (IoT). Data has become a strategic resource, bringing great economic and social value, opening a new era of development, where every individual can connect, learn and create without borders. However, along with technological achievements is the rapid increase of global cybercrime with increasingly sophisticated methods, causing not only economic damage but also directly threatening national security, human rights and civil rights. In that context, the signing ceremony of the Hanoi Convention is of special importance, serving as a forum for the international community to express their commitment and unify actions in the fight against cross-border cybercrime.

Stemming from that spirit of cooperation and clearly recognizing the above challenges, Vietnam believes that the core values of digital transformation and technology must be built on the foundation of ensuring human rights and civil rights in the digital environment.

To realize this viewpoint, the Minister proposed a number of key solutions such as focusing on perfecting the legal framework on protecting human rights and citizens' rights in the digital environment, based on international treaties on human rights; ensuring harmony between national law and international law, linking the principles of international law with the specific conditions of each country; ensuring human rights and citizens' rights must be associated with protecting national and ethnic interests; protecting citizens in cyberspace is not only the core role of the state but also the responsibility of each individual, enterprise, organization and the whole society.

Regarding the work of protecting citizens in cyberspace, Turkish Justice Minister Yılmaz Tunc said that the country passed the Internet Law in 2001 and many legal documents to protect citizens from false and harmful information. And in the context of current technological development, Turkey is researching, reviewing, amending and issuing new legal documents to adapt as well as to better protect citizens from the negative aspects of the internet.

Turkish Justice Minister Yılmaz Tunc said that thanks to the promotion of high-tech applications, the country's judicial system has been integrated, connecting data between functional agencies, making it easier for people to submit applications and access online. Currently, Turkey has deployed an electronic portal for lawyers and citizens with more than 25 million users, allowing online tracking of case files and execution of judgments without being limited by space, time and location.

Online trial system via video conference - taking advantage of the principle of direct dialogue. Since 2020, the country has implemented online hearings, showing that technology has played an important role in supporting judicial work. Turkey is ready to share its experience in this field with other countries.

Australian Ambassador Jessica Hunter shared that to protect citizens in the digital transformation era, Australia focuses on three main areas: Raising people's awareness of online safety; issuing toolkits and handbooks to recognize and respond to violations; and ensuring a complaint and appeal mechanism so that citizens can report when their rights are violated online.

Source: https://baotintuc.vn/thoi-su/cong-uoc-ha-noi-bao-ve-quyen-con-nguoi-quyen-cong-dan-tren-moi-truong-so-20251025211643552.htm