Africa’s leaders are expected to vote later this month on the Draft Convention on the Confidence and Security in Cyberspace at the African Union (AU) summit holding in Ethiopia from the 24 – 31 January 2014.
The goal of the draft cyber security convention is to protect African states from cyber attacks; it would also protect the continent’s institutions and citizens from cybercrimes. Experts believe it is going prepare a common cyber security framework for Africa.
According to Robert Njathika, researcher at Strathmore Law School’s Centre for Intellectual Property and Information Technology Law in Kenya, the sense of urgency to address issues relating to cyber safety in Africa was fostered by international spying scandal that rocked US National Security Agency (NSA).
He told SciDev.Net that Africans are talking about the scandal a lot.
“People across Africa are talking a lot about the NSA scandal and Edward Snowden. Policymakers now seem more motivated to push legislation for better online protection,” he said.
According to the African Union, the Draft Convention gives effect to a Resolution of the last session of the Assembly of Heads of State and Government of the African Union, and seeks to harmonize African cyber legislations on electronic commerce organization, personal data protection, cyber security promotion and cyber crime control.
It said on its website: “In pursuance of the principles of the African Information Society Initiative (AISI) and the African Regional Action Plan for the Knowledge Economy (ARAPKE), the Draft Convention is intended not only to define the objectives and broad orientations for the Information Society in Africa, but also to strengthen existing legislations in Member States and the Regional Economic Communities (RECs) on the Information and Communication Technologies.
“It defines the security rules essential to establishing a credible digital space in response to the major security related obstacles to the development of digital transactions in Africa.
“It lays the foundation for an African Union-wide cyber ethics and enunciates fundamental principles in the key areas of cyber security. It also defines the basis for electronic commerce, puts in place a mechanism for combating intrusions into private life likely to be generated by the gathering, processing, transmission, storage and use of personal data and sets broad guidelines for incrimination and repression of cyber crime. Its adoption would capitalize African and international experiences in cyber legislations and speed up relevant reforms in African States.”