OAS/REMJA Cybercrime Working Group - Regional cybercrime legislation workshop for Latin American countries 

The OAS/REMJA Cybercrime Working Group, in collaboration with the Council of Europe, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Colombia, and the United States Department of Justice, held a regional cybercrime legislation workshop for Latin American countries in Bogotá, Colombia, September 3-5, 2008.  With 66 attendees from 17 Member States, this was the largest workshop that the Cybercrime Working Group has presented since its creation in 1999.  Participating countries included Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, and Uruguay.  Workshop facilitators and speakers came from the OAS Department of Legal Cooperation, REMJA Cybercrime Working Group, Council of Europe, Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, Romania, and the United States.

The workshop provided attendees with a better understanding of:

- Substantive and procedural laws needed to address crimes involving computers and the Internet, using the framework of the Council of Europe Cybercrime Convention;

- Best practices for cybercrime legislation in the Americas; and

- Steps each country should take to improve their cybercrime legislation.

The delegation from each participating country drafted a “country profile” that compares the country’s existing or draft laws with the substantive and procedural articles of the Cybercrime Convention.  Every delegation returned home with a country profile to use as a reference for new or ongoing legislative efforts.

This successful Bogotá event built on prior Cybercrime Working Group programs that have alternated between investigation/forensics and legislative development.  A similar workshop was held in May 2008 for Member States in the Caribbean region.  The OAS Cybercrime Working Group will conclude this series of cybercrime legislation workshops in early 2009 with a focused drafting workshop.  The 2009-2010 workshops will shift back to cybercrime investigations.

For more information, contact the manager assigned to the program