Joint ESCWA and League of Arab States Workshop on
Developing and Harmonizing Cyber Legislation to Promote the Knowledge Society in the Arab Region
Cairo, 14-15 March 2012

The Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia (ESCWA) organized in collaboration with the League of Arab States (LAS) a Workshop on Developing and Harmonizing Cyber Legislation to Promote the Knowledge Society in the Arab Region. The workshop took place in Cairo on 14 and 15 March 2012 targeting legal experts, judges, lawyers and delegates from ministries of justice in Arab countries, particularly those involved in the formulation of national laws related to the cyber space and information and communication technology (ICT). Participants also included representatives of government authorities and agencies involved in the ICT field as well as NGOs.

The main focus of the workshop were the “ESCWA Directives for Cyber Legislation”, which are a tool that supports Arab countries in developing their cyber laws while ensuring harmonization at the regional level. They cover the following six areas:  e-communication and freedom of expression, personal data protection, cyber crimes, e-signature and e-transactions; e-commerce and consumer protection; and intellectual property in the cyber domain.

The workshop concluded with a set of recommendations classified into recommendations for governments and their role at the national level, regional cooperation and integration in the field of cyber legislation, the importance of capacity building and awareness-raising, training for various stakeholders in the formulation of national laws, and the needs and requirements for improving the legislative process in the Arab region.

Click here for more information.

A standardization framework to promote an enabling environment for Arabic e-services

This study focuses on the diverse standards used in developing e-services. It starts by mentioning the importance of e-services, and the role of standards in increasing its adoption. Then, it lists the main Standard Developing Organizations. Standards for specifying e-services are first described, especially those related to web service development, data encoding and exchange, electronic data interchange, and web service routing and addressing. The study also describes the main e-service security standards, main standard frameworks used for e-Business and e-Commerce applications.

The study provides an overview of frameworks needed for building government e-services and describes the interoperability standards. It briefly describes case studies from developed countries, such as UK, Australia, and Germany, and from the ESCWA region, such as KSA and Syria. The study concludes on a proposed framework, aiming to develop e-services in Arab countries.

Click here to download the publication.

Launch of the ESCWA Regional Profile of the Information Society 2011.

The information society, in which information is processed efficiently, including the production, exchange, adaptation and use of information, is the appropriate environment for achieving sustainable development and enhancing the quality of life for all citizens. However, the move towards the information society constitutes a real challenge to developing countries, particularly in view of the expanding digital divide with developed countries, thus rendering them increasingly vulnerable to reduction in their productive and economic capacities.

Given the importance of information societies as a path for achieving sustainable development and realizing the Millennium Development Goals, and in the process of following up to the World Summit on the Information Society, ESCWA prepared this regional profile report, which is the fifth in a series on the information society in Western Asia. The present report provides essential information on the status of the information society in ESCWA member countries. It aims at assisting decision makers and researchers by providing them with reference information for analysis and planning. It also allows national authorities to compare the current status of their information society with that of other countries in the region and the world, thereby promoting opportunities for cooperation and regional integration in an increasingly knowledge-based global economy.

Click here for more information.