Workshop 1: Cybercrime legislation in Africa and international standards

Strong legislative framework is the basis for criminal justice action on cybercrime and electronic evidence. Many governments around the world have undertaken legal reforms, often using the Convention on Cybercrime (Budapest Convention) as a guideline and ensuring that they meet human rights and rule of law requirements to prevent misuse. Furthermore, the African Union’s Malabo Convention on Cyber Security and Personal Data Protection entered into effect on 8 June 2023.

The recent adoption of the United Nations treaty against cybercrime is a major political achievement. The core concepts and measures of the draft treaty are drawn from the Budapest Convention (2001) complemented by provisions adapted from the UN Conventions on Transnational Organised Crime (UNTOC, 2000) and Corruption (UNCAC, 2003).

The aim of this workshop is twofold: firstly, to identify challenges and opportunities for a more effective uptake of cybercrime legislation in alignment with the international standards. Outcomes of the workshop will contribute to encourage cybercrime legislative activity across the African continent. Secondly, the workshop will explore how the implementation of the recently adopted UN treaty against cybercrime could be synergised with the existing outreach of the Budapest Convention on Cybercrime. The workshop also targets to promote transnational cooperation to inspire, boost and optimise cybercrime legislative processes in African countries.