On September 28, 2022, CBES participated in the seminar “Legal and practical issues in the prevention and combat of illegal wildlife trade and transportation on the sea route from Africa to Vietnam” organized by Ho Chi Minh City University of Law, Vietnam Maritime University and Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS). The workshop was conducted within the framework of the project “Strengthening cooperation between African and Asian countries in preventing and combating illegal wildlife trade” by the Bureau of International Narcotics & Law Enforcement (INL) sponsored by the United States Department of State.
The seminar aimed to provide people with an overview of the illegal trade and transport of wildlife on sea routes from African countries, particularly from Central African to Vietnam. The seminar was also attended by representatives from Law University of Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam Maritime University, WCS, especially representatives from the Command of Vietnam Coast Guard, Ho Chi Minh City Customs Department and nearly 50 other delegates. All together exchanged and discussed measures to strengthen control, prevention, investigation and handling of cases of illegal wildlife transport from Africa to Vietnam and promote cooperation between Vietnam and African countries.
Through the seminar, WCS also provided information collected from open sources on illegal wildlife trade and transport from abroad to Vietnam. “From 2015 to August 2022, there were 34 domestic arrests and 8 overseas arrests related to Vietnam illegal wildlife trade and transportation on sea routes from African countries, especially from countries in Central Africa. In recent years, criminals have been exploiting sea routes to transport large quantities of wildlife products with sophisticated methods of concealing goods in cargo containers. The workshop provided assessments and views on the international and Vietnamese legal framework on preventing and combating illegal wildlife trade on sea routes”.
CBES is very pleased to participate in the seminar and hope that the illegal wildlife trade and transportation will be controlled by the joint effort from different stakeholders.
