ADOPTED
ASEAN DECLARATION TO PREVENT AND COMBAT CYBERCRIME
Manila, the Philippines, 13 November 2017
WE, the Heads of State/Government of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations
(herein referred as ASEAN) namely Brunei Darussalam, the Kingdom of Cambodia,
the Republic of Indonesia, the Lao People’s Democratic Republic, Malaysia, the
Republic of the Union of Myanmar, the Republic of the Philippines, the Republic of
Singapore, the Kingdom of Thailand, and the Socialist Republic of Vietnam, gathered
in Manila, Philippines for the 31st ASEAN Summit;
MINDFUL of the importance of Information and Communications Technologies
(ICTs) as the key driver of ASEAN Member States in governance, economy,
commerce and trade, social well-being and all other aspects;
COGNIZANT of the imperative to have National Action Plans in place that will
contain national policies and strategies to prevent and combat cybercrime as well as
the implementation of anti-cybercrime-related measures;
CONCERNED about the emerging harmful effects of crimes caused by the misuse
and abuse of ICTs and considering the inherently technical and trans-border nature
of cybercrime which affects every sovereign State;
RECOGNIZING the need to enhance cooperation against cybercrime aimed at the
protection of our community in the region including by, inter alia, formulating
concrete and effective regional approaches;
RECALLING the ASEAN Declaration on Transnational Crime, signed by the ASEAN
Ministers of Interior/Home Affairs on 20 December 1997 in Manila, Philippines,
during the 1st ASEAN Ministerial Meeting on Transnational Crime (AMMTC), which
agreed to strengthen the commitment of Member States to cooperate at the regional
level in combating transnational crimes;
RECALLING FURTHER the ASEAN Plan of Action to Combat Transnational Crime
2016-2025, which was adopted by the AMMTC on 26 July 2017 wherein ASEAN
Member States have agreed to continue to cooperate closely in their efforts to
prevent and combat cybercrime, along with terrorism and transnational organized
crimes such as trafficking in persons, illicit drug trafficking, money laundering, arms
smuggling, and sea piracy;
PURSUANT to the provision of the agreed Work Programme to Implement the
ASEAN Plan of Action to Combat Transnational Crimes as adopted during the
Preparatory SOMTC for the 10th AMMTC on 28 September 2015 in Kuala Lumpur,
Malaysia, particularly on cybercrime components such as information exchange,
regulatory and legal matters, law enforcements, capacity building, and extra-regional
cooperation;
IN SUPPORT of the common framework for ASEAN cybercrime enforcement
capacity building that was adopted during the 7th SOMTC on 26-27 June 2007, and
the subsequent establishment of a Working Group on Cybercrime as endorsed in the
9th AMMTC on 17 September 2013, both held in Vientiane, Lao PDR;