Law Ministers Meeting

It’s not often you get the opportunity to present to an audience that has influence over more than 2 billion people or a third of the world’s population. This week at the Commonwealth Law Ministers Meeting in Sri Lanka I had the opportunity to showcase the work of the Commonwealth Secretariat cyber team over the past year and expand on next steps.

The Commonwealth Cyber Declaration of 2018 promotes cyber stability through international cooperation, of particular relevance is the commitment to use national contact points and other practical measures to enable cross-border access to e-evidence.

My small part in the implementation of this part of the Declaration has been to deliver practical training for national contact points for thirty six of the fifty three member states. With regional workshops in the Caribbean, Asia, Pacific and Africa in collaboration with UNODC – we had a good story to tell at the Commonwealth Law Ministers Meeting.

This was also an opportunity to make new contacts with Law Ministers and Attorneys General to drive forward capacity building into 2020. We still have much to do to develop procedures, standardise requests and raise awareness of service provider procedures – but with high-level buy-in we now have a platform to ensure the work with law enforcement, prosecutors and the judiciary is well supported.

Part of my mission in Sri Lanka has Also been to assess national capacity and provide in-country support for requesting e-evidence across borders. Various meetings with key stakeholders show that much has been learnt following the appalling Easter Sunday attacks – and I look forward to our continued support for the relevant agencies in Sri Lanka.