Regional Parliamentary Webinars to Promote Universality and Implementation of the Budapest Convention on Cybercrime
Supported by:
GLACY+ Project:Octopus Project: Parliamentarians for Global Action:
Webinar 1: Africa Region
Speakers
- Peter BARCROFT, Senior Director, International Peace and Security Program (PGA)
- Virgil Spiridon, Head of Operations, CoE Cybercrime Programme Office (C-PROC)
- Betty SHAVE, Council of Europe expert
- Dr. Albert ANTWI-BOASIAKO, National Cybersecurity Advisor, Ghana
- T. George-Maria TYENDEZWA, Assistant Director, Federal Ministry of Justice, Nigeria
Date and time
- Tuesday, 13 July 2021 | 12h00 – 14h00 UTC
Duration and language
- 2h | English, French, Portuguese
Audience
- Parliamentarians and other relevant policy makers from countries in Africa.
This webinar is jointly organised by the Council of Europe and Parliamentarians for Global Action.
Webinar 2: Caribbean Region
Speakers
- Peter BARCROFT, Senior Director, International Peace and Security Program PGA
- Florian DELSERT, Program Associate, International Peace & Security Program PGA
- Virgil SPIRIDON, Head of Operations, CoE Cybercrime Programme Office (C-PROC)
- Betty SHAVE, Council of Europe expert
- Anthony V. TEELUCKSINGH, Chair of the OAS/REMJA Working Group on Cybercrime
- Daniel ACKERMAN, US Department of Justice, ICHIP for Latin America and Caribbean
- Claudio PEGUERO, Brigade General, Director of Planning, Development and International Cooperation, National Police, Dominican Republic
- Senator Jose DEL CASTILLO SAVIÑON, Chair of the Transport and Telecommunication Commission, member of the Justice and Human rights Commission, Dominican Republic
Date and time
- Tuesday, 28 September 2021 | 09h00 – 11h00 UTC-4
Duration and language
- 2h | English, Spanish
Audience
- Parliamentarians and other relevant policy makers from countries in the Caribbean Region.
This webinar is jointly organised by the Council of Europe and Parliamentarians for Global Action.
Webinar 3: Asia/Pacific Region
Speakers
- Peter BARCROFT, Senior Director, International Peace and Security Program PGA
- Virgil SPIRIDON, Head of Operations, CoE Cybercrime Programme Office (C-PROC)
- Betty SHAVE, Council of Europe expert
- Florian DELSERT, Program Associate, International Peace & Security Program PGA
- Attorney Angela Marie de Gracia, Department of Justice-Office of Cybercrime, Phillipines
- Jayantha Fernando, Director, Sri Lanka CERT and General Counsel, ICT Agency of Sri Lanka
Date and time
- Wednesday, 8 December 2021 | 20:00 – 22:00 (GMT+8)
Duration and language
- 2h | English
Audience
- Parliamentarians and other relevant policy makers from countries in Asia/Pacific region.
This webinar is jointly organised by the Council of Europe and Parliamentarians for Global Action.
Webinar 4: Latin America Region
Speakers
- Senator Lucilla CREXELL, Chair of the PGA National Group
- Mr. Moisés BENAMOR, Organisation of American States (OAS)
- Mr. Virgil SPIRIDON, Head of Operations, CoE Cybercrime Programme Office (C-PROC)
- Mr. Anthony V. TEELUCKSINGH, Chair of the OAS/REMJA Working Group on Cybercrime
- Mr. Daniel ACKERMAN, U.S. Department of Justice, ICHIP for LAC
- Mr. Marlon MOLINA, Coordinator of the OAS Cybersecurity Lab
- Mr. Juan BATTALEME, Security and Defence Expert. Academic Director of CARI, Argentina
- Mr. Gustavo SAIN, National Director of Cybersecurity of the Republic of Argentina
- Ms. Betty SHAVE, Expert of the Council of Europe
- Mr. Peter BARCROIFT, Senior Director, International Peace and Security Programme, PGA
- Mr. Claudio PEGUERO, Brigadier General, Director of Planning, Development and International Co-operation, National Police, Dominican Republic
- Senator Jose DEL CASTILLO SAVIÑON, President of the Transport and Telecommunications Commission, Member of the Justice and Human Rights Commission, Dominican Republic (TBC)
- National MP Ramiro GUTIERREZ, President of the Committee on Citizen Security, Combating and Preventing Drug Trafficking, Terrorism and Organised Crime of the Latin American Parliament
- Senator Kenneth PUGH, Member of the Defence Committee of the Senate of Chile.
- MP Margarita STOLBIZER, Secretary of the PGA National Group
Date and time
- Monday, 7 March 2022 | 10.00 am (GMT -3)
Duration and language
- 2h 45min | English, Spanish, Portuguese - interpretation will be provided
Audience
- Parliamentarians and other relevant policy makers from countries in Latin America.
This webinar is jointly organised by the Council of Europe and Parliamentarians for Global Action.
Background
As the world evolves towards digitalization, the use of and reliance on information technology has become more and more pervasive in society. Targeting and illegally exploiting computer systems and data have also become increasingly common.
The COVID-19 global pandemic has spurred an unprecedented increase in cyber-based illegal activities. Offences involving computers have grown rapidly both in number and in sophistication, and even more alarmingly since the beginning of the pandemic.
Developing effective countermeasures has proven to be challenging in the global context, as well as aligning legislation, strategies and policies in a consistent and harmonized manner. Heterogeneous legal frameworks, lack of national strategies, limited criminal justice capacities to counter cybercrime and secure electronic evidence, and information infrastructures that are still scarcely secured in a number of countries, has made societies worldwide vulnerable targets for cybercrime. Moreover, governments struggle in reconciling effective responses to cybercrime with human rights and rule of law requirements online.
The action that the Council of Europe has been developing to tackle these issues is based on strengthening capacities of criminal justice authorities worldwide on the basis of the Budapest Convention on Cybercrime, which is the only binding international instrument on this issue that provides consistent definitions of conducts to be criminalized, procedural powers for investigations and prosecutions, and provisions for international cooperation.
The Convention with already 66 Parties serves as a guideline for any country developing comprehensive national legislation against cybercrime and as a framework for international cooperation between States Parties to this treaty.
The formula of the Budapest Convention as the common standard backed up by the Cybercrime Convention Committee (T-CY) and capacity building through Cybercrime Programme Office (C-PROC) continues to ensure impact. With the future Second Additional Protocol on enhanced cooperation and disclosure of electronic evidence, the mechanism of the Budapest Convention is likely to remain the most relevant international standard for years to come.
Parliamentarians, both as advocates and as lawmakers, fully mobilized, can make a substantive and decisive impact in promoting universality and implementation of the Budapest Convention on Cybercrime and its First Additional Protocol on Xenophobia and Racism, as well as generating wider awareness of the forthcoming Second Additional Protocol, accompanied by necessary safeguards to ensure adequate privacy and data protections, as appropriate.
Parliamentarians for Global Action, GLACY+ project and Octopus Project of the Council of Europe are joining efforts to co-organise a series of thematic webinars to promote the importance of the universality and implementation of the Budapest Convention and its Protocol/s to ensure an effective and coordinated approach to tackle cybercrime, a threat to human rights, democracy and the rule of law.
Objectives
This series of webinars is intended to provide Parliamentarians and other relevant policy makers with a platform for identifying effective approaches to countering cybercrime in their respective countries, and how to make use of the opportunities offered by the mechanism of the Budapest Convention.
Expected outcomes
As a result of these thematic webinars, it is expected that participants will:
- Become more familiar with the main attributes of the Budapest Convention as a guideline for domestic cybercrime legislation, including legal tools to get access to e-evidence as well as a framework for international cooperation
- Be better equipped to promote universality and implementation of the Budapest Convention, as appropriate, in their respective countries
- Be better informed regarding related capacity building programmes organized by the Council of Europe
Resources
- Budapest Convention on Cybercrime
- First Additional Protocol to the Budapest Convention on Cybercrime (concerning the criminalisation of acts of a racist and xenophobic nature committed through computer systems)
- Second Additional Protocol to the Budapest Convention on Cybercrime (on enhanced cooperation on cybercrime and electronic evidence)
- Octopus Project webpage
- GLACY+ project webpage
- Parliamentarians for Global Action website