Microsoft and the Attorney General Alliance (AGA) – an organisation committed to building capacity and exchanging knowledge with African governments, justice and law enforcement agencies and officials throughout Africa to support the rule of law and combat transnational criminal activity – have today launched a partnership.
The two organisations will collaborate with government, justice and law enforcement agencies and officials across Africa to train and share knowledge and experience, with the aim of capacity building focusing on cybercrime and related cross-border criminal activities like money laundering.
The partnership-signing ceremony at Movenpick Ambassador Hotel, Accra, took place during the Commonwealth Secretariat Conference on Cyber Crime in Africa.
AGA’s Executive Director, Karen White, said: “With aligned missions to support capacity building initiatives in cybercrime investigation and prosecution in Africa, AGA is proud to partner with Microsoft. We are constantly seeking out meaningful partnerships as part of our commitment to continue expanding and improving our global training programmes.
“The increased use of cyberspace and access to the Internet in Africa has brought its challenges to the law and justice sector. This is a timely partnership that supports an urgent need to build capacity to support our partners in the investigation and prosecution of cyberspace criminal activity,” said AGA’s Board Member, Markus Green.
Expert projections on global cybercrime damages are US$6trillion by the end of 2021, with a 15 percent growth rate per year reaching US$10.5trillion by 2025.
“Organisations in Africa are increasingly transacting online, and e-commerce markets are expanding. Cybercrime presents a major setback to these strides and threatens to reverse the gains made by the rapidly-growing uptake of technology. We are indeed excited to launch our partnership with AGA to enhance the exchange of information, strategies and training to prevent, regulate, investigate and prosecute cybercrime in Africa,” said Mark Ihimoyan, Microsoft’s Regional Director, Emerging Markets (Engineering).
The Attorney General Alliance (AGA) seeks to establish and foster robust relationships with African governments, Justice and law enforcement agencies and officials to support the rule of law, build capacity through trainings to prosecute and investigate cross-border criminal activity like human-trafficking, money laundering, cybercrime, counterfeit drugs etc. The Attorney General Alliance’s Africa Programme is currently working with partners and stakeholders in Kenya, Nigeria, Rwanda, Senegal, South Africa and Zambia, and is still growing.
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