“Unlike other illicit commodities, our environment is finite. Once a species is extinct or an ecosystem destroyed, there is no reversal. Waiting is no longer an option.”
This powerful statement was delivered by our Director of External Relations and Communication at the 12th meeting of the Conference of the Parties (COP) to the United Nations Convention on Transnational Organized Crime (UNTOC), held in Vienna from 14 to 18 October.
The Wildlife Justice Commission actively participated in the UNTOC COP to urge States to prioritise the fight against crimes that affect the environment, particularly wildlife crime, and to collaborate with civil society and other partners in effectively addressing these urgent issues. Our involvement included speaking at, supporting, and organising key events, delivering oral statements during the plenary session, and engaging in critical discussions with States and NGO partners.
Enhancing the use of the UNTOC against wildlife crime
The UNTOC serves as the key international framework for combatting transnational organised crime, requiring States to adopt legal and investigative measures against organised criminal activities, including using specialised investigative techniques such as electronic surveillance and undercover operations, establishing specific criminal offenses, and enhancing international cooperation.
At the UNTOC COP12, we continued to advocate for States to recognise wildlife crime as a “serious crime” under the UNTOC’s definition (i.e. an offense punishable by a maximum deprivation of liberty of at least four years or a more serious penalty), which would allow for the application of stronger penalties and enable the use of these tools provided for by the UNTOC, which are crucial for addressing the complex, transnational nature of these offenses.
Tackling the nexus of organised crime and corruption
The strong interconnection between corruption and crimes that affect the environment necessitates addressing both issues simultaneously in law enforcement strategies, rather than treating them as separate challenges. In a side event organised by the UN Convention against Corruption (UNCAC) Coalition, we shared insights drawn from our dual role as Chair of the UNCAC Coalition Working Group on Environmental Crime and Corruption and from our on-the-ground operational work fighting wildlife trafficking and its ties to corruption.
We continued to advocate for a more coordinated implementation of the UNTOC and the UNCAC to combat these crimes effectively. Both conventions contain important provisions to effectively enforce and deter these crimes, which include employing special investigative techniques, conducting thorough financial investigations, and mechanisms for asset seizure and recovery. By leveraging these tools in a coordinated manner, we can better tackle the corruption that enables organised wildlife crime and other crimes that affect the environment.
The crucial role of civil society in preventing and combatting crimes that affect the environment
Concrete action to effectively combat organised criminal networks profiting from crimes that affect the environment and the corruption enabling them requires a whole-of-society approach and collaboration across various sectors, including with civil society.
In an event organised and moderated by the Wildlife Justice Commission, a panel of experts highlighted the critical role that civil society organisations (CSOs) can play in promoting and supporting the implementation of the UNTOC to prevent and combat such crimes.
The Co-Chairs of the Group of Friends on Crimes that Affect the Environment in Vienna, Juliette Bigot from the Permanent Mission of France and Carlos Sanchez del Aguila from the Permanent Mission of Peru, opened the event; while Laura Holgate, US Ambassador to the Vienna Office of the UN, delivered closing remarks. All three State representatives highlighted the crucial role of civil society in the collaborative efforts required to tackle these crimes.
CSOs like the Wildlife Justice Commission can provide essential technical assistance and capacity-building support to investigators, prosecutors, and adjudicators, and play a pivotal role in strengthening legislative and policy frameworks to effectively prevent and combat these crimes. They also play a crucial role in facilitating and engaging in Public-Private Partnerships to support the identification of illicit financial flows related to these crimes. Dr. Pleyer, Deputy Director General in Germany’s Federal Ministry of Finance and former Financial Action Task Force (FATF) President, underscored the importance of the UNODC Private Sector Dialogues (of which he chairs the European branch) in enhancing collaboration between law enforcement agencies, financial institutions, and NGOs, leading to faster, more effective prevention and disruption of financial criminal activities linked to crimes that affect the environment.
CSOs can also leverage advanced technology to enhance the effectiveness of law enforcement agencies. John Scanlon, Chair of the Global Initiative to End Wildlife Crime (EWC), and Sarah Maston, Co-Chair of the EWC’s Impact Technology Champions, presented their initiative to build a network of organisations utilising new technologies to tackle wildlife crime. Kristina Amerhauser, Senior Analyst at GI-TOC, presented the ECO-SOLVE platform – designed to enhance data sharing on crimes that affect the environment – and highlighted the important role CSOs can play in providing data to inform law enforcement and private sector actions, and the importance of involving local communities in these programs.
To further highlight the important role of civil society in combatting these crimes, we participated in an event organised by the Alliance of NGOs on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice, of which we are a Board member, to present the Alliance’s civil society declaration. This declaration calls for State Parties to enhance their collaboration with civil society, and to provide a safe and enabling environment to those who expose, report and fight crimes that affect the environment and associated corruption.
In case you missed these events, watch the recordings:
Looking ahead
We welcome the adoption by the Conference of the Parties of a draft resolution aimed at enhancing measures to prevent and combat crimes that affect the environment falling within the scope of the UNTOC. This resolution, championed by Brazil, France, and Peru, marks a significant step forward, particularly as it calls for the creation of an open-ended intergovernmental expert group on crimes that affect the environment, with a mandate to identify any gaps in the international legal framework and consider possible responses to those gaps, including the possibility, feasibility and merits of any additional protocol to the UNTOC. It is our hope that this paves the way for more effective action against these crimes across the globe. We remain committed to playing our part in achieving this goal.
