Fighting cybercrime requires regional and international cooperation [1]
Monday, September 25, 2017 - 19:16. Updated on Tuesday, September 26, 2017 - 09:13.
Cooperation at regional and international level is essential for fighting the unique challenges cybercrime presents to the peoples of the Pacific and the entire world, Tonga’s Lord Chief Justice O.G Paulsen told the opening of a cybercrime training session today, September 25.
The five-day, 'Introductory Training of Trainers Course on Cybercrime and Electronic Evidence for the Pacific', implemented by the Council of Europe, and held at the Tanoa International Dateline Hotel.
The Chief Justice said with the rapid growth of technology in Tonga, our under-developed knowledge of cybercrimes and lack of specific cybercrime legislation, Tonga was at obvious risk of being a target for cyber criminals.
Government and law enforcement in Tonga saw the need to develop and update its legislation on electronic evidence and cyber related crimes. Tonga realized it must bring its laws in line with the world’s practices. This is a major reason why just this year Tonga acceded to and ratified the Budapest Convention.
He said this is a significant move as Tonga is the first of the Pacific Island to ratify the convention, with Australia as the only other country in the region.
This convention is the first international treaty on crimes committed via the internet and other computer networks, dealing with violations of copyright, computer-related fraud, child pornography and violations of network security.
“As Chief Justice, I wholeheatedly support this training and consider it essential to ensure that judges and magistrates have sufficient and up-to-date knowledge of the types of crimes that are being committed via the internet, the electronic and IT equipment being used and how they are being misused, in order to carry out their roles effectively and thereby to strengthen the rule of law in Tonga."
Effectiveness
Polixenia Calagi, Senior Project Officer from the Council of Europe said this course is delivered under the framework of the Global Action on Cybercrime Extended project (GLACY+).
She said at the Council of Europe, they strongly believe that a sustainable judicial training programme on cybercrime and electronic evidence is the effective manner of ensuring that judges, magistrates and prosecutors have the necessary tools and knowledge to tackle the challenges by the rapid advance of technology in our society.
"At the end of the five-days, we would expect not only to have shared expertise and strengthened knowledge on the topics related to cybercrime and electronic evidence, but also to have provided a set of training skills that could be re-used by the trainees present here today, to be trainers themselves within the respective national authorities that they represent and also in the region."
This initiative is a joint project of the European Union and the Council of Europe supporting eight priority countries in Africa, Asia Pacific and Latin America, namely the Dominican Republic, Ghana, Mauritius, Morocco, Philippines, Senegal, Sri Lanka and Tonga.
Attending are local judiciary and police officers with regional representatives from judiciaries in Samoa, Solomon Islands, Kiribati and Vanuatu.