A Supreme Court Justice has appealed to the Samoa Government to ratify the Budapest Convention and the Lanzarote Convention to protect the public and the country's children from cyber crime.

Speaking at the opening ceremony of the Cyber Smart Samoa Week on Tuesday, Senior Supreme Court Justice Vui Clarence Nelson said there are two important conventions on cybercrime that he wanted to highlight at the event.

He said one is called the Budapest Convention or Convention on Cybercrime which addresses internet and computer crimes which was drawn up the 46-member Council of Europe. 

As of October this year 67 out of 196 states have ratified the Budapest Convention, according to the Senior Supreme Court Justice, as well as Australia. 

"Samoa has not signed this convention or ratified it, Tonga interestingly has, and being the only Pacific island nation to have ratified the Budapest Convention," Justice Vui said.

"But why is the Convention important, well the Convention is important from two particular reasons. 

"One it list a whole lot of cybercrimes, offences and it defines it and it provides an almost standard international definition of these cyber crimes which a lot of countries are now adopting.

"We are one of the countries that have adopted it, we got a lot of provisions in the Crimes Act that are drawn from the Budapest Convention."  

However, the Senior Supreme Court Justice said Samoa has only taken "some of them" and "not all of them" in terms of the offences in the Convention.

Justice Vui said the other important reason why Samoa should ratify the Convention is that it also triggers a lot of the international cooperation.

"Once you ratify this convention, you will find doors open to the Council of Europe and to the technical assistance the Council of Europe can provide us on how to deal with cybercrime, on how to prevent cybercrime, on how we prosecute individuals who are involved in cybercrime, and what to do with them when we find they've committed offences and we have to throw them into prison because eventually they will have to live within the prison walls."

This aspect of international technical cooperation is important, said the Senior Supreme Court Justice, but Samoa cannot benefit unless and until it ratified and signed the Budapest Convention.

"So one of the messages I am here today to deliver to the Honourable Minister and to his Government and to the Administration, the Ministry is to please consider ratifying this Convention.

"It is an important part of the legal framework of this country and in addition to the Budapest Convention, please also look and take note of the Lanzarote Convention, which is a convention more geared towards cyber crimes against children.

"Lanzarote Convention is in fact called Council of Europe Convention on the Protection of Children against Sexual Exploitation and Sexual Abuse, it is a very long title but then it is a very long Convention."

The Lanzarote Convention criminalises a lot of sexual activities involving children, like child prostitution, child pornography and includes provisions that look at how children can be educated, said Justice Vui.

"This is really important, it is not all about prosecuting offenders, it is also about educating and protecting our young children, not only children but even adults from cyber crimes." 

Justice Vui said at the conclusion of the workshop, the participants should make recommendations to the Samoa Government for the Budapest Convention and the Lanzarote Convention to be ratified and signed by the country.

Speaking in the earlier part of the programme, the Minister of Communications and Information Technology, Toelupe Poumulinuku Onesome said the COVID-19 pandemic over the last three years had a big impact on life in Samoa and made ICT a priority for both the Government and private sectors.

"Education, healthcare services, communication and businesses continued during Covid with the use of digital telecommunication," Toelupe said. 

"Telecommunication digital technologies has changed how we educate our next generation, how we deliver our health services, how we meet and do business, and even how we worship and pray. 

"Truly ICT has changed the world and it is a necessity for everyone."