Qatar, UN sign up to establish regional centre for fighting cybercrime in Doha

Qatar and the UN Office on Drugs and Crime signed the supplementary agreement to establish the UN regional center for combating cybercrime in Doha. The agreement was signed on behalf of the government of Qatar, HE Secretary-General of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Dr Ahmed bin Hassan al-Hammadi, while Executive Director of the UN Office on Drugs and Crime Ghada Wali, signed on the UN side, at the UN headquarters in Vienna. The signing ceremony was attended by HE Sultan bin Salmeen al-Mansouri, Qatar's ambassador to Austria, and Permanent Representative to the UN and international organisations in Vienna.The agreement will allow the launch of the activities of the UN regional center for combating cybercrime in Doha during the next two months, and the centre's activity covers the Middle East and North Africa region, as well as capacity-building at the global level if needed, as the center provides training and capacity building for specialists in the countries of the region and in developing countries in general in the field of combating cybercrime, and this includes setting and planning policies and legislation to combat cybercrime, and exchanging experiences and information on cybercrime variables at the national and international levels.The establishment of the centre comes at a time when the world is becoming increasingly aware of the importance of preventing and combating cybercrime, the dangers of which have increased in recent years, and its link and facilitation of transnational organised crime, drug trafficking, money laundering, and threats to the infrastructure, security and safety of states have increased, which prompted the UN to take a decision to start negotiating a comprehensive international agreement in the field of combating the use of information and communication technologies for criminal purposes, which is expected to be completed next year.The centre's launch comes as a Qatari initiative to support international efforts to confront cybercrime in all its forms and names. It is an achievement added to the work of many international organisations that have opened centers for them at the UN House in Doha, in a way that enhances the growing role of Qatar in supporting multilateral diplomacy and advancing the three pillars of the UN, which are Sustainable development, international peace and security, and human rights.