The Philippine Judicial Academy of the Supreme Court of the Philippines, in cooperation with the Octopus Project of the Council of Europe, organised a judicial knowledge exchange on cybercrime and e-evidence for over 30 judges from 9 ASEAN countries - Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Lao PDR, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, Vietnam and the Philippines.

The three-day learning session with interactive discussions moderated and facilitated by both Filipino and international subject-matter experts, introduced participants to the framework of the Convention on Cybercrime (Budapest Convention), resulting in an enhanced judicial expertise on cybercrime and e-evidence, as well as strengthened regional cooperation.

Cybercrime is an identified priority area for judicial training under the Strategic Plan 2018-2025 and the Work Plan 2020-2025 of the Council of ASEAN Chief Justices (CACJ) Working Group on Judicial Education and Training (WG-JET). With the cross-border nature of cybercrime offenses and e-evidence, there is a critical need for ASEAN judges to be well-versed in handling electronic evidence and adjudicating cybercrime cases.

The Philippines to date is the only country in Southeast Asia having acceded to the Budapest Convention and having extensively benefitted of its international cooperation framework and capacity building programmes. As a Hub Country for Southeast Asia under the GLACY-e project, the Philippines took a leading role in sharing best practices and strategies across the region by organising this pilot judicial training.

The Council of Europe stands ready to further support these collaborative efforts, including in relation to harmonizing legal frameworks on cybercrime and e-evidence in ASEAN countries, in line with international standards.

The Council of Europe gratefully acknowledges voluntary contributions of the donors to Octopus project.

• Octopus Project webpage
• Council of Europe Convention on Cybercrime (Budapest Convention)
• Second Additional Protocol to the Cybercrime Convention (Second Additional Protocol to the Budapest Convention )