The first meeting of the Ad-Hoc Committee to Elaborate a Comprehensive International Convention on Countering the Use of Information and Communications Technologies for Criminal Purposes (UN Cybercrime Treaty) took place on 10-12 May 2021. Participants elected the Chair of the Committee (H.E. Ms. Faouzia Boumaiza Mebarki, African Group: Algeria) and its 14 Vice-Chairs, and approved a list of organizations that can participate as observers. The meeting however, ended without any agreement on the modalities for the Committee, with some states threatening to walk away from the negotiations over the process. The next steps are unclear at this stage. Human Rights Watch has called for caution on the Treaty, as such a cybercrime convention could “severely undermine the ability of people to exercise their human rights online, including freedom of expression and freedom of access to information.”