Women have a crucial role to play in effective criminal justice responses to cybercrime, whether as policymakers or legislators developing and adopting legislation on cybercrime, or as law enforcement, prosecutorial or judicial practitioners investigating and prosecuting such offences.
Experience from the capacity building projects implemented by the Council of Europe Cybercrime Programme Office underline the central place of women in driving actions to combat cybercrime at the national, regional and international levels. Despite this, cybercrime and electronic evidence, as well as parts of the criminal justice system more generally, may often be perceived as predominantly male fields.
The International conference on promoting the role of women in preventing, investigating and prosecuting cybercrime is expected to build on the experiences gained through the capacity building activities implemented by the Council of Europe Cybercrime Programme Office as well as existing research by the Council of Europe and other stakeholders by contributing to:
- Showcasing women’s roles as criminal justice practitioners combatting cybercrime;
- Sharing experiences among participants of building women’s capacity to engage actively in the criminal justice response to cybercrime;
- Preventing cybercrime against women and ensuring women can access effective remedies when they become victims of cybercrime;
- Identifying how to further promote women’s role in the global fight against cybercrime.
