Caribbean Electronic Evidence Training and Embedding

Summary

This five-year project supports Commonwealth Caribbean countries to strengthen their anti-cybercrime legal, policy and institutional frameworks through enhancing the capacity of key stakeholders (law enforcement officials, prosecutors, magistrates and judges) to utilise digital evidence in the investigation, prosecution and adjudication of cybercrime cases. In addition to training workshops and conferences, the Commonwealth Secretariat produced a Good Practice Guide on Digital Evidence.

Details

Aim

To support the strengthening of Commonwealth Caribbean countries’ criminal justice systems and their capacity to effectively prevent, investigate, prosecute and adjudicate cybercrime cases.

Context

In 2018, Commonwealth Heads of Government adopted the Commonwealth Cyber Declaration in recognition of the economic, social, cultural, and political benefits derived from digital technologies and the need to address arising crime and security risks. Supported by the United Kingdom’s Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, the Secretariat has supported, since 2018,  Commonwealth Caribbean countries to strengthen their anti-cybercrime legal, policy and institutional frameworks, including through the training of key justice sector stakeholders on electronic evidence.

• Phase 1 (Jul 2018 – Mar 2020) under the Commonwealth Cyber Programme
• Phase 2 (Nov 2020 – Mar 2023) under the Combatting Cybercrime in the Commonwealth Programme

Outcomes

1. Adoption of legislation and rules of evidence and practice by most Commonwealth Caribbean countries that allow for the admissibility of electronic evidence in criminal cases (addressing issues of search and seizure, preservation, authentication, admissibility and presentation in court).

2. Increased capacity of law enforcement officials and prosecutors to ensure the admissibility of electronic evidence in criminal cases through ensuring proper chain of custody practices.

3. Emergence of Caribbean case law precedents on the admissibility of electronic evidence in criminal cases.

4. Widespread and greater appreciation by key stakeholders (law enforcement, prosecution, judiciary and other key policymakers) on the need to strengthen investigators’ capacity to effectively secure, process, authenticate and ensure the admissibility of electronic evidence.

5. Greater understanding of the various international law rules and processes on Mutual Legal Assistance in criminal matters.

Outputs

Output 1: Good Practice Guide for Digital Evidence.

Output 2: Training Module – Digital Evidence.

Output 3: Training Module – Mutual Legal Assistance in Criminal Matters.

Activities

The activities under this track of activity were:

1. Electronic Evidence Training Workshop, March 2019, Barbados;

2. Train the Trainers Workshop on Electronic Evidence, Barbados January 2020.

3. Cybercrime Conference, May 2022, Barbados

4. E-learning Course on Electronic Evidence, July, 2022.

Websites

https://thecommonwealth.org/our-work/commonwealth-cyber-declaration-programme

Images

Cybercrime, Barbados Conference