The Asia-Pacific Cybercrime (APC) Capacity-Building Hub
Written by
Wouter Veenstra, Head Global Outreach and Partnerships, GFCE Secretariat
The APC-HUB is a capacity building training institution that provides trainings on combating cybercrime to lawmakers, policymakers, judges, prosecutors, investigators, and all other multi-stakeholders in the Asia-Pacific region. By means of an MoU (Memorandum of Understanding) dating back to 20 November 2019 in Strasbourg, the Supreme Prosecutors’ Office of the Republic of Korea (KSPO), the World Bank and the GFCE joined forces to support the development of the APC-HUB. The goal of the APC-HUB is to build a strong network for international cooperation on combatting cybercrime.
The idea for creating this Hub goes back to 2015 when the World Bank was developing the Toolkit on Combatting Cybercrime: Tools and Capacity Building for Emerging Technologies while the Republic of Korea was interested to use the tool in their region. During this process, the GFCE was invited to join as a partner. After two challenging years due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the inaugural event took place in the first week of November 2022.
The APC-HUB has five mission statements:
- Provide Training for countries in the Asia-Pacific Region
- Share ideas on how to combat cybercrime
- Reinforce the capacity of national research and development policy
- Build a strong network of international cooperation
- Become a focal point of cybersecurity in the Asia-Pacific region
1st APC-HUB Training Session in Korea in November 2022
For this first training week, three countries were invited, Cambodia, Lao PDR and Papua New Guinea. Their delegations ranged from Policymakers to Law enforcement officers and from Diplomats to Judiciaries. The agenda varied from national cyber policies to cybercrime legislation to Incident Response and international cooperation. At the end of the week, each delegation also showcased an action plan based on a scenario. Thanks to the outstanding organization by APC-HUB’s team lead by Director, Mr. DongKun Ahn, it proved to be a successful week which will serve as an example for training weeks to come.
What is the role of the GFCE in the APC-HUB?
The role of the GFCE Secretariat is to offer its global network, to identify and connect relevant stakeholders to the APC-HUB, to further develop regional cooperation and to provide strategic advice on the development of the APC-HUB. Also, the GFCE Working Group C on Cybercrime serves as platform to exchange knowledge and support the activities of the APC-HUB. Moving forward and with the establishment of the GFCE Regional Hubs, it is also foreseen that the GFCE regional liaisons will have an active role in these efforts. Mr Wouter Veenstra, Head of Global Outreach and Partnerships at the GFCE Secretariat, is appointed as the co-chair of the Consultation Group of the APC-HUB.
The GFCE looks forward to continue the close cooperation with KSPO and the World Bank in order to serve many more countries to come in the Asia-Pacific region on the important fight against cybercrime. To learn more about the APC-HUB, please visit the website at www.apc-hub.org.
