News

On 23 November 2020, we mark ten years since the establishment of the International Consortium on Combating Wildlife Crime ( ICCWC ), the collaborative effort between the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) Secretariat, INTERPOL, the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), the World Bank and the World Customs Organization (WCO). These five inter-governmental bodies are collectively working through ICCWC to enhance capacity and bring coordinated support to national agencies responsible

Geneva, 10 July 2020 - The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) unveiled the World Wildlife Crime Report 2020 during a high-level virtual event at which statements were delivered by Ms. Ghada Whaly and Ms. Angela Me , respectively UNODC’s Executive Director and Chief of Research and Analysis Branch; Ms. Carla Montesi , Director for Planet and Prosperity of the European Commission’s Development Cooperation Directorate; Ms. Astrid Schomacher , Director for Global Sustainable Developmentof the European Commission’s Directorate

Welcoming speech from CITES Secretary general (5 min.) Excellencies, Heads of States, Ministers, Distinguished Guests, Ladies and Gentlemen. It is a great pleasure for me to be here with you at this First High-level Conference on Illegal Wildlife Trade in the Americas. We continue to see a great deal of high-level political support and cooperation at international and regional levels, and, in this regard, I would like to congratulate the Government of Peru for having organized this important conference in

Pretoria/Geneva, 6 November 2013 - The first international rhinoceros DNA sampling training workshop was held in South Africa on 5 and 6 November 2013. The purpose of the workshop was to enhance the world’s enforcement capacity to address the wave of rhinoceros poaching that has resulted in the killing of more than 800 animals in South Africa since January 2013. The South African Department of Environmental Affairs (DEA) and the University of Pretoria’s Veterinary Genetics Laboratory (VGL), in collaboration with

The International Consortium on Combating Wildlife Crime (ICCWC) delivered a two-day cutting-edge training workshop to wildlife law enforcement officials from 21 countries in Nairobi, Kenya, from 30 to 31 October 2013. The training strengthened the skills of law enforcement officers from across Africa and Asia, to combat transnational organized wildlife crime more effectively through the use of a broad range of innovative and specialized investigation techniques. It further exposed these officers to hands on training on the use of tools

Nairobi/Geneva, 31 October 2013 – The Secretariat of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) hosted a CITES Rhinoceros Enforcement Task Force meeting in cooperation with its partners in the International Consortium on Combating Wildlife Crime (ICCWC), in Nairobi, Kenya, from 28 to 29 October 2013. The meeting was attended by 52 representatives from 21 countries that play a role as source, transit or destination countries in the illegal rhinoceros horn trade chain

Law enforcement support for gorillas Representatives of the International Consortium on Combating Wildlife Crime (ICCWC) attended the first meeting of the Technical Committee to the Agreement on the Conservation of Gorillas and their Habitats, which was held on 29 and 30 March in Kigali, Rwanda. The meeting was organized by the Secretariat of the Convention on Migratory Species. The Technical Committee meeting brought together representatives from Angola, Cameroon, the Central African Republic, the Congo, the Democratic Republic of the Congo

For use of the media only; not an official document. Geneva, 28 November 2011 – The Secretary-General of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES), John E. Scanlon, praised today INTERPOL and the World Bank for the launching of Project Predator, a global enforcement initiative to protect and save the world’s last surviving wild tigers. “We are heartened by this initiative which has our full support”, said Mr Scanlon. “The work of INTERPOL

For use of the media only; not an official document. Bangkok, 7 March 2013 – The first global meeting of wildlife enforcement networks took place alongside the 16th meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) to scale up regional enforcement capacity and coordination to respond to the serious threat posed by wildlife criminal networks. Wildlife law enforcement officers from around the world convened in Bangkok

For use of the media only; not an official document. Bangkok, 5 March 2013 – Wildlife crime has recently been brought to the fore at the highest political level, including through the outcomes of the UN Conference on Sustainable Development and resolutions by the United Nations General Assembly and the United Nations Economic and Social Council. Building on this international recognition, Ministers and high-level government representatives convened yesterday in Bangkok to discuss the challenges posed by the increasingly-sophisticated illicit trade