Cybercrime

CyberEast+, a joint project of the European Union and of the Council of Europe, supported the organisation of a National Forum on Cyberviolence in Ukraine on 24–25 March 2026, gathering representatives of Ukrainian state authorities, the private sector, civil society and academia to advance a shared understanding of the challenges and to improve the coordinated response to cyberviolence.

The discussions were led by Council of Europe experts, and the opening was addressed by Hilde Haug, Deputy Head of the Council of Europe Office in Kyiv, who underlined governments' positive obligation to protect citizens from online harm and the equal importance of public-private cooperation in fulfilling that obligation.

Sessions covered the conceptual landscape of cyberviolence — its interdisciplinary nature spanning criminal, administrative and civil law — as well as reporting challenges, the role of NGOs and helplines, and the need for cross-border cooperation in cases where electronic evidence is stored in foreign jurisdictions. The authorities were encouraged to facilitate reporting of not only criminal acts, but all forms of cyberviolence.

During the event it was underlined that, unlike in previous years, the number of cyberviolence reports increased. At the same time, the number of cases registered by the Cyber Police of Ukraine decreased. This relates to better digital literacy of the society in progress.

The forum also examined the complementarity of key Council of Europe legal instruments - the Convention on Cybercrime (Budapest Convention), the Council of Europe Convention on the Protection of Children against Sexual Exploitation and Sexual Abuse (Lanzarote Convention), and the Council of Europe Convention on preventing and combating violence against women and domestic violence (Istanbul Convention), highlighting how the full implementation of all three frameworks would equip authorities with the legal powers, the prevention, as well as the victim-support infrastructure needed to address cyberviolence comprehensively. Participants were also introduced to the Cyberviolence Resource initiated under the Octopus Project.

The CyberEast+ project will continue to support Ukrainian partner authorities through legislation and policy trainings on cybercrime and electronic evidence, to achieve stronger compliance with the Budapest Convention and its Second Additional Protocol.

CyberEast+ project

Council of Europe Office in Kyiv

Cyberviolence Resource

The Convention on Cybercrime ( Budapest Convention)

The Council of Europe Convention on the Protection of Children against Sexual Exploitation and Sexual Abuse (Lanzarote Convention)

The Council of Europe Convention on preventing and combating violence against women and domestic violence (Istanbul Convention)