CYBER CRIME & CYBER SECURITY TRENDS IN AFRICA 4. Conclusions The current state of legislation on cyber crime and electronic evidence in Africa is not satisfactory. By April 2016, only 20% of countries seemed to have the minimum legislation in place. On the positive side, some African countries represent examples of good practice, the African Union Convention on Cyber Security and Personal Data Protection of 2014 should help create a political momentum for stronger legislation and the Budapest Convention on Cyber Crime may serve as a guideline for comprehensive legislation that reconciles the need for an effective criminal justice response with the need to meet human rights and rule of law requirements. Accession to this treaty will facilitate cooperation between African countries and criminal justice authorities of countries in other regions of the world. Efforts currently underway in a number of African countries to reform domestic legislation should be supported and carried through. Over-criminalisation – in particular with regard to content and speech – should be avoided, and conditions and safeguards limiting law enforcement powers should be established. The enactment of data protection legislation should be encouraged. The adoption of legislation should go hand in hand with the improvement of criminal justice capacities, ranging from the establishment of specialised units for cyber crime investigations and computer forensics, to the strengthening law enforcement and judicial training, interagency cooperation, financial investigations, child protection, public/private cooperation and international cooperation. The challenge may seem immense, but as indicated at the outset: governments cannot remain passive; they have the obligation to protect society and the right of individuals and to create the conditions for realising the human development potential of information technology. 57