07 April 2015, Kasane, Botswana. Both events were held in Kasane, Botswana and were attended by dignitaries from
all over the globe including their Excellencies the Presidents of Botswana and
Gabon, the Vice Presidents of Namibia and Zambia, honourable Ministers from
Botswana, the UK, SA, China, Zimbabwe but to mention a few, heads of IGOs,
multilateral financial institutions and Senior Officials to give an update, as
it were, on the implementation of 14 Urgent Measures "to halt and reverse the
trend in killing of elephants and the illegal trade in ivory”, adopted on the
3rd December, 2013.
Important
to our relevance is the implementation of Urgent Measure 1 which reads as
follows, "[A]pplying a zero tolerance approach, secure and report on maximum,
therefore deterrent, sentences for wildlife crime using a combination of
existing laws and strengthened regulatory frameworks for investigation, arrest,
seizure and suspected wildlife criminals; such laws may include, inter alia,
wildlife, corruption, money laundering, organized crime, fire arms, employment
and terrorism laws.” Country reports were therefore presented to measure the
level of progress made on implementation of the Urgent Measures and development
of concrete actions to address the challenges and emerging issues based on the
London Declaration Commitments. Note also that Urgent Measure 13 reads as
follows,”[S]trengthen existing or implement new legislation to classify
wildlife trafficking involving organized criminal groups as a "serious
crime” to effectively unlock international law enforcement cooperation under
the United Nations Convention Against Transnational Crime, including mutual
legal assistance, asset seizure and forfeiture, extradition and other tools to
hold criminals accountable for wildlife crime.” The emphasis comes from the
instrument itself.
The web address or soft copies of the reports for our consideration in and around asset forfeiture/recovery and freezing/restraining the proceeds of wildlife crimes will be availed to colleagues once they are available through this platform.
Report done by Mpho I. M. Letsoalo.