Cybercrime/e-Crimes and Electronic Evidence intended for adoption within the region; six Commonwealth member states were involved33. 2.30 In the Pacific similar work has been done under the ICB4PAC project sponsored by the ITU and the European Union, which involves eight Commonwealth jurisdictions34 in developing model legislation35. 2.31 There have been a number of developments in Africa. The African Union (which has 53 member states of which 19 are members of the Commonwealth36 has a Draft Convention on the Establishment of a Legal Framework Conducive to Cybersecurity in Africa but this has not yet secured the approval of the meeting of Heads of State or Government of the Union. Within the various regional groupings of African states, the Southern African Development Community (with 11 Commonwealth members37) has a draft Model Law on Computer Crime and Cybercrime38 produced with the assistance of the ITU/European Union sponsored HIPSSA project; the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (with 8 Commonwealth members) has a draft Model Bill on Cybersecurity; and the Economic Community of West African States (with 4 Commonwealth members39) has a draft Directive on Fighting Cybercrime within ECOWAS. Recommendation concerning these other instruments 2.32 Some at least of these instruments were designed to be compatible with the Budapest Convention; all could be of value in securing more effective action against cybercrime. It is important that instruments designed to enhance co-operation within a given region should not be so framed as to have the unintended consequence of making co-operation beyond the region more difficult: criminals do not respect boundaries (and indeed exploit any opportunities divergent legislation may present). Subject to that, the Group believes that Commonwealth countries should be encouraged to consider becoming Party to any regional and/or international cybercrime conventions and participating in other initiatives to ensure co-ordinated action against cybercrime or, where possible, utilise them as models to guide the development or enhancement of their existing domestic frameworks. On-going UN Work 2.33 The Group was kept informed about the work of the UN open-ended intergovernmental expert group on cybercrime convened pursuant to General Assembly resolution 65/230. The Group noted that there had been broad support for capacity-building and technical assistance, and for the role of UNODC in that regard. At its twenty-second session in April 2013, the UN Commission on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice requested the expert group to continue its work towards fulfilling its mandate. The Commission also emphasised the need to reinforce technical assistance and capacity-building activities, based on national needs, for the prevention, prosecution and punishment of the use of information 33 Barbados, Grenada, Jamaica, St Kitts and Nevis, St Lucia and Trinidad and Tobago (together with Haiti). Cook Islands, Fiji, Kiribati, Niue, Papua New Guinea, Samoa, Tuvalu, and Vanuatu. 35 See http://www.itu.int/en/ITU-D/Cybersecurity/Documents/ICB4PAC%20Assessment%20Eletronic%20Crime.pdf and http://www.itu.int/en/ITU-D/Cybersecurity/Documents/ICB4PAC%20Skeleton%20Electronic%20Crime.pdf 36 Botswana, Cameroon, The Gambia, Ghana, Kenya, Lesotho, Malawi, Mauritius, Mozambique, Namibia, Nigeria, Rwanda, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, South Africa, Swaziland, Tanzania, Uganda and Zambia. 37 Botswana, Lesotho, Malawi, Mauritius, Mozambique, Namibia, Seychelles, South Africa, Swaziland, Tanzania and Zambia. 38 See http://www.itu.int/en/ITU-D/Cybersecurity/Documents/SADC%20Model%20Law%20Cybercrime.pdf 39 The Gambia, Ghana, Nigeria and Sierra Leone. 34 32