Eastern African Criminal Justice Network on Cybercrime and Electronic Evidence

Summary

The Network is part of the sustainable capacity building activities to combat and prevent cybercrime in East Africa which is part of the UNODC Global Programme on Cybercrime

Partners:
International and regional organisations which shall have an advisory role in the Network and its Steering Committee (non-exhaustive):

• United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC)
• Commonwealth Secretariat, under the auspices of the Commonwealth Cybercrime Initiative (CCI)
• INTERPOL
• East Africa Police Chiefs Organization (EAPCO)
• African Union (AU)
• International Telecommunication Union (ITU)
• Council of Europe

Target countries / regions

The participation or ad-hoc partnership of other States, regional or international organizations, as well as regional or thematic networks or platforms, shall be subject to a decision of the Steering Committee of the Network, based on whether their participation benefits the Network.

Target group(s)

Criminal justice officials and key stakeholders from Member States of the East African Community (EAC) and other African States, as well as representatives of relevant intergovernmental and other organisations.

Aims / objectives

• Promote the exchange of information between criminal justice and law enforcement counterparts of Member States on issues pertaining to the fight against cybercrime
• Facilitate working relationships between the criminal justice and law enforcement sectors and other key stakeholders
• Facilitate and promote formal and informal international cooperation among Member States against cybercrime
• Exchange information on best practices, harmonisation of national laws and technical assistance needs in the field of international cooperation to combat cybercrime
• Establish a database of cybercrime cases and compile information on patterns and trends of cybercrime in the region
• Facilitate and coordinate training and capacity building activities for the Member States
• Facilitate cooperation on legal issues pertaining to cybercrime, including the use of electronic evidence
• Promote and facilitate any other form of cooperation as may be beneficial to the needs of Member States and the functioning of the Network itself

Outcome / impact

The Network shall facilitate coordination among the following authorities from each Member State:

• The office or person designated (by law or administrative order) as the national contact point on issues relating to cybercrime and related matters
• Law enforcement authorities responsible for the detection and investigation of cybercrime (two (2) officers from each Member State), taking into consideration the existing INTERPOL group of experts
• Prosecutorial authorities with functions relating to the prosecution of cybercrime (one officer from each Member State)
  Judicial authorities (one officer from each Member State)
• Central and competent authorities designated to receive, process and facilitate the execution of requests for mutual legal assistance, extradition and other forms of international cooperation (two officers from each Member State)
  Ministry or government agency responsible for telecommunication matters (one officer from each Member State)

To ensure the effectiveness of the Network, one National Focal Point shall be nominated from each Member State as a person occupying a particular office in Government service who will be entrusted with the task to facilitate coordination between the aforementioned national authorities within the Member State.

Period

• Start: Eastern African Networking Meeting on Cybercrime and Electronic Evidence (Nairobi, Kenya, 19-20 August 2015) – Adoption of the Terms of Reference of the Network
• April 2016 – Basic cybercrime investigations and digital forensics training: Three-day training workshop (Kampala, Uganda) on Basic Cybercrime Investigations and Digital Forensics for law enforcement investigators and prosecutors.