The African Union Convenes The Second African Cybercrime Forum

Share:

July 08, 2021

Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, 08 July 2021- The 2nd African Cybercrime Forum organized in close cooperation between the African Union Commission and the Council of Europe on 28 – 29 June 2021 for African cybersecurity actors in Government, Business, Law enforcement & Judiciary, Academia and Civil Society actors from AU Member States. It was attended by roughly 350 participants on each day including representatives from regional and international organization such as the European Union, INTERPOL, the Commonwealth Secretariat, UK Foreign Commonwealth Office, the U.S. Department of Justice, among others.

In her opening statement, H.E. Dr Amani Abou-Zeid stated that “By 2022 roughly 60% of the global GDP will be digitized. Every development sector is now seriously contemplating the implications of this digital transformation. Leaders across all sectors are grappling with the strategic implications of these transformations for their organizations, industry ecosystems and society. Businesses in every industry need to utilize technological advances to not only stay competitive, but to survive”

H.E. further stressed that “Cybersecurity has not yet been sufficiently appreciated or acknowledged in the continent and often times other priorities will take precedence over it. This lack of preparedness is allowing cybercriminals to use Africa as a safe haven to operate illegally with impunity”. H.E. continued “Many leading experts are increasingly worried that the next global conflict will be conducted via cyber. Let us work collaboratively to prevent this undesirable outcome.”

Taking the floor, Baroness Beeban Tania KIDRON, Member of the House of Lords, Parliament of the United Kingdom emphasized the need for considering children’s rights when discussing cybercrime regulation, with the African digital ecosystem recording a higher proportion of children on the Internet, thus making children safety an essential component of the discussions. H.E. further underscored that for an effective child online safety and protection strategy three important pillars must be taken into account, namely ensuring children rights offline is being preserved online, protecting children personal data and employing security by design approach throughout the value chain.

Dr. Hilde HARDEMAN, Head of the European Commission's Service for Foreign Policy Instruments (FPI) in her opening address underscored international cooperation as a pre-requisite for safe and stable cyberspace and that the European Union stands ready to cooperate on the fight against cybercrime with all regional partners including in the African continent.

On his part, Mr. Alexander SEGER, Head of the Cybercrime Division of the Council of Europe, highlighted that “African countries made good progress in recent years in terms of their capacities to counter cybercrime. However, as cybercrime is a constantly evolving challenge, more and even better cooperation is needed at all levels. We hope this forum – organised in partnership with the African Union Commission – will trigger further legislative reforms, operational cooperation and capacity building on cybercrime in Africa.”

The Forum was organized by the African Union Commission, the European Union and the Council of Europe (GLACY+ and Octopus projects) in partnership with other partners and came as a reassurance of the joint commitment of partners to work together towards finding new modalities of strengthening international cooperation against all forms of cybercrime. The two days virtual forum was focusing on:

► Cybercrime policies and legislative updates in Africa
► International cooperation on cybercrime and electronic evidence

The first African Forum on Cybercrime, organized in October 2018 by the African Union Commission in Addis Ababa, and substantially supported by the Council of Europe, INTERPOL, the European Union, UNODC, the Commonwealth Secretariat, the UK FCO, the U.S. Department of State and the U.S. Department of Justice.