African Union Legal Instrument
Page|3
Member States of the African Union, taking into account their existing commitments at
sub-regional, regional and international levels;
Considering that this Convention seeks, in terms of substantive criminal law, to
modernize instruments for the repression of cybercrime by formulating a policy for the
adoption of new offences specific to ICTs, and aligning certain offences, sanctions and
criminal liability systems in force in Member States with the ICT environment;
Considering further that in terms of criminal procedural law, the Convention defines the
framework for the adaptation of standard proceedings concerning information and
telecommunication technologies and spells out the conditions for instituting proceedings
specific to cybercrime;
Recalling Decision Assembly/AU/Decl.1(XIV) of the Fourteenth Ordinary Session of
the Assembly of Heads of State and Government of the African Union on Information
and Communication Technologies in Africa: Challenges and Prospects for Development,
held in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia from 31 January to 2 February 2010;
Taking into account the Oliver Tambo Declaration adopted by the Conference of
African Ministers in charge of Information and Communication Technologies held in
Johannesburg, South Africa on 5 November 2009;
Recalling the provisions of the Abidjan Declaration adopted on 22 February 2012 and
the Addis Ababa Declaration adopted on 22 June 2012 on the Harmonization of Cyber
Legislation in Africa.
HAVE AGREED AS FOLLOWS: