The validation workshop on cybercrime legislation was hosted by the Ministry of Communication and Information Infrastructure (MOICI) in the Gambia and co-organized by the Council of Europe and Expertise France, in the framework of two European Union funded initiatives, namely the GLACY+ and OCWAR-C projects.

The Council of Europe started working two years ago with the Gambian government on the legal framework on cybercrime and electronic evidence in the country with the aim of drafting a modern legislation in line with the international standard of the Budapest Convention.

Following the Council of Europe’s recommendations issued after the first mission to the Gambia (May 2018), a Legislative Drafting Committee was established having representatives of various national authorities. A second mission followed up on those recommendations in March 2019 and supported the Gambian authorities in the actual drafting of the relevant amendments. As a result, The Gambian Ministry of Justice and Ministry of Information and Communication Infrastructure prepared a draft Cybercrime Bill, which was finalized in December 2019 and open for public consultation until January 2020.

The validation workshop on cybercrime legislation reached its objective by finalizing all the pending comments received in the public consultation process, having now ready a Cybercrime Bill 2020 to be submitted for the Parliament’s approval.

This activity was organized joining resources with Cybercrime@Octopus project.