The Council of Europe under the framework of the Octopus Project supported the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Kazakhstan in the organisation of a workshop on accession to the Convention on Cybercrime (Budapest Convention) and enhanced international cooperation, taking place in Astana between 13-14 November 2024.
Discussions focused on the roadmap for further work on legislation in view of the full implementation of the provisions of the Budapest Convention.
In addition to having adequate legislation, Kazakh authorities underlined that capacities of criminal justice authorities need to be strengthened, in particular in what regards the use of procedural powers, channels and tools for international cooperation in cybercrime and for exchange of electronic evidence.
Around 30 representatives from the Ministry of Internal Affairs, Office of the Prosecutor General, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, National Security Committee, Ministry of Defence, Ministry of Justice, Anticorruption Agency, Ministry of Digital Development, Innovations and Aerospace Industry, National Center on Human Rights, Financial Monitoring Agency, Court Administration, Law Enforcement academies participated in the workshop and increased their knowledge on the international legal standards on cybercrime and electronic evidence.
Kazakhstan has engaged with the Council of Europe in assessing the legal and institutional framework on cybercrime and e-evidence since 2017, which led to submission of the request for accession in November 2022. On 19 April 2023, Kazakhstan was invited to join the Convention on Cybercrime, becoming an Observer to the Cybercrime Convention Committee (T-CY) and eligible for a more in depth capacity-building support.
Through the Octopus Project, the Council of Europe will continue working with the authorities of Kazakhstan to facilitate the finalisation of the process for acceding to the Convention and strengthening their response to cybercrime and e-evidence challenges.
The Council of Europe gratefully acknowledges voluntary contributions of the donors to the Octopus Project.
Octopus Project (dedicated webpage)
In Focus
