WWLegal.com :: Launch of the ASEAN Wildlife Law Enforcement Network (ASEAN-WEN)

Launch of the ASEAN Wildlife Law Enforcement Network (ASEAN-WEN)
Posted on Sunday, December 04, 2005 - 12:00 AM

ASEAN stepped up its efforts in the enforcement of CITES and other legislation for wildlife protection with the launch of the ASEAN Wildlife Law Enforcement Network (ASEAN-WEN) on 1 December 2005 in Bangkok.

ASEAN-WEN is an integrated network among law enforcement agencies and membership of the network is open to officials from CITES authorities, customs, the police, prosecutors, specialised governmental wildlife-law enforcement organisations and other relevant law enforcement agencies. The network is expected to deliver an effective coordination and information sharing mechanism among the law enforcement agencies at national and regional levels in the fight against the illicit harvesting of and transnational trade in wild fauna and flora.

The establishment of ASEAN-WEN will promote the capacity of ASEAN to combat the organised trans-boundary criminal activities of wildlife trafficking and trade, as well as to effectively enforce CITES agreement in the region. The ASEAN region has long been targeted by illegal wildlife traders as a ‘hotspot’ in the lucrative multi-billion dollar global trade of wildlife, in which both live and processed goods of most species protected by CITES are traded, ranging from tigers and elephants to rare orchids and indigenous medicinal herbs to rare marine species, endemic reptiles and songbirds.

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