OSCE Office in Baku promotes comprehensive approach to cybersecurity

BAKU, 7 September 2010 - An OSCE-supported workshop on cyber security that aims to help Azerbaijan implement an international treaty on cybercrime started in Baku today. 

The two-day workshop, organized by the OSCE Office in Baku, brings together representatives of government agencies, international organizations and civil society. The workshop aims to help Azerbaijan's government implement the Council of Europe Convention on Cybercrime by adopting a consistent policy on cybersecurity. Azerbaijan ratified the Convention, which promotes a common criminal policy and international co-operation to combat cybercrime, on 1 July.

"This workshop will assist Azerbaijan to safeguard rights and freedoms related to the protection of personal data and privacy so that it can implement the Convention on Cybercrime," said Ambassador Bilge Cankorel, the Head of the OSCE Office in Baku.

"The implementation of the Convention will require many changes, including updating criminal legislation, revising procedures, creating more efficient law enforcement measures and establishing better co-operation with Internet service providers."

The workshop focuses on topics such as international practices and legal frameworks, threats and trends, the involvement of civil society in the field of cybersecurity and government- civil society co-operation.

The workshop is part of efforts to support OSCE participating States to fulfil an OSCE commitment adopted in 2004 that calls on states to exchange information on the use of the Internet for terrorist purposes and identify possible strategies to combat this threat, while ensuring respect for the right to privacy and freedom of opinion and expression.