16th May, 2019 Two representatives from the International Criminal Police Organization (INTERPOL) are facilitating a three-day workshop on Data Protection and INTERPOL Global Policing Capabilities for more than 20 reps from Attorney General’s Office, Tonga Police, Customs, Vanuatu and Australia’s National Central Bureau and CERT Tonga. The training was opened by the Director of CERT Tonga Mr Siosaia Vaipuna yesterday morning at Tanoa International Dateline Hotel.
Mr Vaipuna who was the guest of honour of the workshop’s opening programme said that the Article 8 of the Convention on Human Rights provides a right to respect one’s privacy.
“We should take heed of this as we handle information as these personal information can lead to intrusion and interference with people’s private lives that can be distressing and damaging for individuals. It can give those who are in control of data a power over people in a potentially dangerous way for society and democracy.”
He said that in Tonga there is an increase in the adoption of ICT resources which also increase the likelihood for personal information to be used for “fraudulent or other inappropriate purposes. The potential for this personal information to be misused can reduce confidence in the up-take of ICT services and in particular, in e-Commerce and e-Government services.”
“An assessment in 2014 concluded that there was no legislation in place in Tonga dealing with privacy or data protection and I believe that still holds true today.”
He said that the World Bank had approved a US$4.6 million dollars project that will enhance digital access to important public services.
The approved project will also provide significant upgrades to Tonga’s civil registration and national ID systems and activity to draft a privacy and data protection bill.
The participants will be taken through a series of lectures about data protection rules as the basis of police data sharing and developing trust and effectiveness in the police, exchange views on challenges presented by the national, regional and international legislation particularly in the area of cybercrime among others.
Participants will also get the opportunity to familiarize themselves with INTERPOL’s tools and services available to its member countries.
The workshop is one of many capacity building activities that benefit Tonga funded by the Council of Europe through the GLACY+ Project which aims to strengthen the capacities worldwide to apply legislation on cybercrime and electronic and evidence and enhance their abilities for effective international cooperation in this area.
ENDS
Issued by the Ministry of Meteorology, Energy, Information, Disaster Management, Environment, Climate Change, and Communications.