CfMA Statement at the Virtual, informal dialogue with the Chair of the OEWG on ICT security 2021-2025 held on Monday, 22 May at 9am-12pm EST.
Mr. Chair, today we have the honour to address you within the framework of a consultation process on strengthening African participation in the Open-Ended Working Group (OEWG). This consultation was held on the 16 – 18 July 2022 in Lilongwe, Malawi on the sidelines of the African Internet Governance Forum. In view of that multi-stakeholder consultation, a number of proposals on strengthening cybersecurity capacity of government and its bureaucracies such as National Security Institutions, Judiciary, Law-enforcement institutions, Parliamentarians but also of the African Union Commission (AUC) and Regional Economic Communities (RECs) were documented and disseminated to various multi-stakeholder platforms, including the previous informal and formal sessions that you convened. We think these ideas continue to be crucial sets of proposals that you could consider for the Annual Progress Report.
Government
I. Need to contextualise the voluntary norms, at national level while appreciating local context, and working with multi-stakeholder groups to advance the values of the norms to suit national and local contexts.
iii. How to engage with non-state actors in a manner that builds trust, confidence and ensures inclusive process.
ii. Firm understanding of the value of multi-stakeholder and expert-based delegations at UN and other international cybersecurity and diplomacy processes.
iii. Need for an effective and efficient institutional capacity for developing and sustaining cyber-diplomacy and digital foreign policy.
iv. How to protect critical infrastructure, critical information infrastructure and respond to ICT related emergencies.
National security institutions
• Training on broader cyber security issues including on applying a human-centric and multi-sectoral approach and on the intersection between cybersecurity and human
rights.
• Knowledge of applicable human rights norms and standards as well as of relevant international, regional and national human rights instruments.
Judiciary
• Understanding digitalisation and cybersecurity matters, laws and how to prosecute cybersecurity offences, including cross-border offences.
• How to consider human rights in the adjudication of cybercrime cases.
• Digital evidence management
• Knowledge of regional, continental and international cyber related instruments and conventions, and norms and principles.
Law enforcement institutions
i. Understanding broader cyber security issues and that the prosecution of cybercrime offences might require new and specialised approaches.
ii. Capacity in cyber forensics.
iii. Specialised capacity in the detection, investigation and prosecution of cybercrime cases.
iv. How to consider human rights in the investigation of cybercrime cases.
Parliamentarians
v. Capacity to understand cybersecurity issues and promote awareness of cybercrime, security and cyber hygiene among their constituents.
vi. How to better cooperate with other stakeholders in shaping policies which correspond to the digital age and that are agile, flexible, human-centric and that take into account human rights and gender equality.
The African Union Commission and Regional Economic Communities
vii. Understanding the opportunities that exist for engagement at multilateral policy processes and how to do so effectively.
Thank you Chair.
