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OCWAR-C – Organised Crime: West African response to Cybersecurity and fight against Cybercrime

Project

Published on

  • Global threats and organised crime

  • Peace, stability and security

© Freepik
© Freepik
Project start date
Status

Closed

Project end date
Financing amount (Euro)
€7.5m
Country and region
Benin, Burkina Faso, Cape Verde, Ivory Coast, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Liberia, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, Nigeria, Sierra Leone, Senegal, Togo
Funders
European Union
Partners
ECOWAS - Economic Community of West African States
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This project aims to enhance cybersecurity and combat cybercrime in the Member States of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) and Mauritania.

Internet knows no boundaries. In West Africa, it becomes more and more accessible and settles in the population’s everyday life, which creates increasing cyber threats for the Member States of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS).

Yet, economies of ECOWAS Member States lose millions of dollars due to cybercrime. According to the 2017 report of the ‘Plateforme de Lutte Contre la Cybercriminalité (PLCC)’ of Côte d’Ivoire, cybercrime caused losses estimated at US$ 5.4 million in 2016 and US$ 6.1 million in 2017. Ghana and Nigeria also had losses of US$ 50 million and US$ 550million respectively in 2016. Consequently, it is crucial to prevent cyberspace from turning into a source of danger for users - States, businesses and citizens - and to build confidence and security for ICTs’ use.

However, the borderless nature of cybercrime makes it difficult to eradicate. That is why it is crucial to establish national cybersecurity strategies to identify, manage and respond to cyber threats as well as cooperation between countries at regional and international levels. This is particularly challenging for ECOWAS countries in terms of implementation of their respective legal and regulatory frameworks as well as availability of financial resources and expertise on the subject.

To tackle the issues related to cybersecurity and cybercrime, enhance cooperation between countries and support the implementation of the ECOWAS cybersecurity agenda, the European Union (EU) and the ECOWAS Commission have agreed to implement the “Organised Crime: West African response to Cybersecurity and fight against Cybercrime” (OCWAR-C) Project. This project, along with OCWAR-T (against trafficking) and OCWAR-M (against money laundering), is part of the projects financed by the European Union to fight against organised crime in West Africa.

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The main objective of OCWAR-C is to contribute to enhance cybersecurity and combat cybercrime in Member States of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) and Mauritania.

OCWAR-C will more specifically aim to:

• Improve the resilience and robustness of the information infrastructure;

• Enhance the capacity of the stakeholders in charge of combating cybercrime.

This will require to adopt a multi-stakeholder and human rights compliant approach and implement institutional, organisational, and technical measures that will aim to increase stakeholders’ cybersecurity preparedness and improve legislation in line with regional, continental and international conventions.

In order to reach the project’s objectives, seven main activities will be set up:

1 - Establishing a strategic framework enhancing technical, operational and analytic expertise of national institutions concerned with cybersecurity

2 - Improving cybersecurity awareness and empowerment of stakeholders to secure the internet at national and regional levels

3 - Improving the capabilities of handling computer security incidents in two pilot countries

4 - Strengthening respect for human rights and the rule of law in two pilot countries

5 - Analysing the strategic framework to implement Public Key Infrastructure (PKI) in two pilot countries

6 - Improving the legal framework enabling citizens to enjoy the digital dividends of an open, free, secure and resilient cyberspace

7 - Enhancing the capacities to respond to cybercrime cases in two pilot countries.