A SPEECH BY HONORABLE MINISTER OF STATE
Yves IRADUKUNDA
AT THE CONFERENCE ON THE UNITED NATIONS CONVENTION AGAINST
CYBERCRIME, HANOI VIETNAM, 25-26 OCTOBER 2025

1. On behalf of His Excellency Paul Kagame, President of the Republic of Rwanda, I appreciate the United Nations (UN) initiatives, particularly the adoption of the Convention against Cybercrime, by the General Assembly of the United Nations on 24 December 2024 in New York by the resolution 79/243. This is the first comprehensive global instrument which provides States with a range of measures to be undertaken to prevent and combat cybercrime.

2. We are concerned that the use of information and communications technology systems can have a considerable impact on the scale, speed and scope of criminal offences, including offences related to terrorism and transnational organized crime, such as trafficking in persons, the smuggling of migrants, the illicit manufacturing of and trafficking in firearms, their parts, components and ammunition, drug trafficking and trafficking in cultural property.

3. We are convinced of the need to pursue, as a matter of priority, a global criminal justice policy aimed at the protection of society against cybercrime by, inter alia, adopting appropriate legislation, establishing common offences and procedural powers and fostering international cooperation to prevent and combat such activities more effectively at the national, regional and international levels.

4. We are determined to cooperate in the prevention, detection and suppression of international transfers of property obtained as a result of cybercrime and to strengthen international cooperation in the recovery and return of proceeds of the crimes established in accordance with this Convention.

5. We acknowledge the commitments of the United Nations under this Convention specifically with regard to the provision of technical assistance and capacitybuilding, including the transfer of technology on mutually agreed terms, to countries, in particular developing countries, upon their request, to improve national legislation and frameworks and enhance the capacity of national authorities to deal with cybercrime in all its forms, including its prevention, detection, investigation and prosecution.

6. Particularly, Rwanda already has in place, cybercrime, data protection and privacy frameworks and has been part of other regional arrangements of similar nature such as African Union Convention on Cybersecurity and Personal Data Protection (Malabo Convention), Budapest Convention on Cybercrime, African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) and its additional protocol on digital trade whose success require an internationally regulated and a secure cyberspace.

I thank you and wish you fruitful deliberations!