Calls for strong legislation, cooperation to address cybercrime in the Pacific

Tonga’s Deputy Prime Minister Siaosi Sovaleni says cybercrime responses have to be based on strong legislation, capable law enforcement and also robust international cooperation.

In his address, Sovaleni said a workshop in Nuku’alofa is another opportunity for the Pacific region to appreciate the seriousness that cybercrime posed to its population.

He added that one country cannot do it by itself, whether they wanted to or not and that cyber space was a new frontier that we have to deal with whether we like it or not.

Senior officials from 13 Pacific island countries have been meeting in Tonga this week to discuss their countries’ police and prosecutorial responses to cybercrime and more broadly, electronic evidence.

The workshop is aimed at providing participants with a greater understanding of how to acquire and handle electronic evidence to ensure effective investigation and prosecution of a range of crimes, including cybercrime.

Discussions extended to international police-to-police cooperation and formal mutual legal assistance.

Malicious cyber actors now have greater opportunities to target victims in the Pacific, for example through online scams, banking fraud and identity theft as well as hacking of individual or company systems.

The Internet and other technologies are being used every day to facilitate a range of other traditional crime types, from transnational crimes such as drug smuggling and illegal fishing, to more domestic crimes, including blackmail and harassment.

As such, electronic evidence is becoming increasingly important in criminal investigations and prosecutions.

Many Pacific island countries face a threefold challenge when it comes to dealing with cybercrime and electronic evidence.

These challenges are putting in place a comprehensive legislative framework in line with international standards, improving capacity within the criminal justice sector to effectively investigate, prosecute and adjudicate cases involving electronic evidence, and engaging in effective international cooperation.

In 2015, the Pacific Islands Law Officers’ Network (PILON) which is made up of senior law officials from 17 Pacific island states, including Australia and New Zealand, identified cybercrime as one of the main priority areas for the Pacific region.

Tonga is the Chair of the PILON Cybercrime Working Group and has recently become the first Pacific island country to accede to the Budapest Convention, having received assistance from the Council of Europe on law reform and law enforcement capacity building and support from the Australian Attorney-General’s Department.

Officials from Fiji, Cook Islands, Federated States of Micronesia, Kiribati, Nauru, Niue, Papua New Guinea, Marshall Islands, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Tuvalu, Vanuatu, Tonga, Australia and New Zealand are attending the workshop which ends today.