Cambodia law enforcement support (national level)
Environmental Investigation Agency, UK (EIA)
EIA is producing a field guide for law enforcement officers on the Asian big cat trade in partnership with CITES. This guide will assist front line officers in identifying products made or derived from these species and understand the methods of operation of the criminal networks involved in such trade. The guide will be distributed by the CITES Secretariat to all CITES Parties including to the CITES authorities in Cambodia, China, Laos, Thailand, and Vietnam.
EIA is finalizing a short film and seventeen modules to be used for wildlife law enforcement training. This project has been formally endorsed by the CITES Secretariat, INTERPOL, World Customs Organization and several governments. Relevant enforcement agencies in Hong Kong, Thailand and Vietnam have participated in the film. The modules cover different areas such as crime scene management, controlled deliveries, DNA analysis of ivory, financial investigations and best practice for successful prosecutions. The film and the modules will be distributed physically through USB sticks/DVDs and via a password-protected secure website. This will be distributed widely to various national government agencies, including in Cambodia, China, Laos, Thailand, and Vietnam.
Freeland
Freeland provides national and regional level capacity building to police, customs, financial intelligence units, and prosecutors, through its DETECT and LEGAL programs that combine assessments, strategy design, and training to implement strategies. Each of the programs outlined below is tailored to each audience and their threats, and has a mentoring element that Freeland refers to as “OJT” (On-the-Job Training). The OJTs can include digital forensics training and analytical support. The LEGAL program is for prosecutors and judiciary, while the DETECT program is for counter-trafficking and is designed mainly for police, customs, financial intelligence units, and prosecutors, and includes basic and advanced courses. DETECT cross-border courses led to the formation of the ASEAN-WEN “SIG” (Special Investigation Course). Recently, Freeland produced a highly advanced course under DETECT named “CTOC” (Counter-Transnational Organized Crime), which empowers officers to identify and disrupt illicit supply chains involved in wildlife trafficking and other forms of transnational crime.
Freeland runs a project titled “Trafficking Free Enterprises” that includes training programs for airport-based personnel; bank compliance officers; and hospitality staff. These “eyes and ears” awareness trainings are half day and have been held in Cambodia, China, Thailand, Vietnam, as well as two African countries.
Freeland developed WildScan, a mobile phone application to facilitate species identification – see above section on landscape level law enforcement support for additional details.
INTERPOL International Criminal Police Organization (INTERPOL)
INTERPOL assists its 190 Member Countries, which include Cambodia, China, Laos, Thailand and Vietnam share criminal intelligence, including for issues of environmental crime, through National Central Bureaus (NCBs) in each country. INTERPOL can, upon the request of member countries, deploy an Investigative Support Team (IST) pertaining to particular investigative pursuits. INTERPOL’s Environmental Security Sub-Directorate provides analysis of information submitted by member countries covering investigations of major cases, including both domestic transnational cases.
INTERPOL hosts Regional Investigative and Analytical Case Meetings (RIACMs) to bring two or more countries together to exchange information and work together on specific investigations. In the first half of 2017, INTERPOL is planning three RIACMs that involve the countries of the region:
· Yangon – March 2017 – China
· Singapore – May 2017 – Cambodia, Vietnam
· Singapore – May 2017 – Thailand
Other RIACMs are planned for later in the year. The dates and venues are yet to be confirmed. Cambodia, China, Laos, Thailand and Vietnam will be invited based on the investigation covered by the meeting.
INTERPOL hosts National Environmental Security Seminars (NESS) to encourage national multi-agency communication and cooperation on environmental crime. Member countries are then encouraged to form a National Environmental Security Taskforce (NEST). A NESS was held in March 2017 in Cambodia, and a follow up NESS is planned for the second half of 2017.
INTERPOL provides specialized training to member countries, primarily to their police services, and regularly brings together representatives from multiple countries simultaneously. The following training has been planned for the first half of 2017 (including subject, member countries invited, and venue):
· Fundamentals of Intelligence Analysis – Cambodia, Laos, Vietnam (Nairobi, April 2017); and Advanced Intelligence Analysis – Cambodia, China, Laos, Vietnam (Lyon, May 2017);
· Online trade investigation training – Cambodia, China, Laos, Thailand, Vietnam (Singapore, June 2017);
· Digital forensics: data extraction and analysis – Cambodia, China, Laos, Thailand, Vietnam (Singapore, June 2017);
· Crime Scene Investigation Training – Cambodia, China, Laos, Thailand, Vietnam (July 2017).
INTERPOL conducts annual operations targeting environmental crime. The most recent, Thunderbird, finalized in February 2017, included 43 countries. While Cambodia did not participate in Operation Thunderbird, the country actively participated in past INTERPOL Operations including Operation CONNEXUS, Operation PAWS, and Operation PREY.
TRAFFIC
TRAFFIC has expertise and credibility in tackling wildlife trafficking and acts through its regional and country-based teams across Asia as well as in Africa, Europe and Americas. Using primary research and contextual understanding to analyze information on wildlife trade dynamics, TRAFFIC’s evidence-based outputs assist government law enforcement agencies to disrupt and dismantle trafficking syndicates and increase deterrents through sentencing and prosecution. The Wildlife Trafficking, Response, Assessment, and Priority Setting (Wildlife TRAPS) Project, financed by USAID and implemented by TRAFFIC, in collaboration with the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), is designed to develop and deliver a suite of ground-breaking partnerships and pioneering approaches to tackle wildlife crime between Africa and Asia. The Wildlife TRAPS Project delivers activities through 6 key thematic work streams including: 1) Engaging the Transportation Sector, 2) Enforcement Capacity and Inter-Agency Collaboration, 3) Financial Investigation and Asset Recovery, 4) Wildlife Forensics, 5) Consumer Behaviour Change and Demand Reduction and 6) Community Engagement. The project is building a collective understanding of the true character and scale of the response required through targeted assessments, setting priorities through collaborative action planning, identifying interventions points, and testing non-traditional approaches. This project commenced in 2013 and will run through February 2020. Reducing Opportunities for Unlawful Transport of Endangered Species (ROUTES) is an innovative and transformational partnership, supported by USAID and implemented by TRAFFIC, that brings together international conservation organizations, donors, government, and the transportation and logistics industry for a multi-year collaborative program to disrupt wildlife trafficking by reducing the use of legal transportation supply chains.
TRAFFIC closely collaborates with Cambodia-based Wildlife Alliance to foster political commitment and enhance wildlife trade-related legislation in the country, including closing loopholes that undermine adequate law enforcement responses. It also provides species specific seizure and market data analysis to continue to inform on new emerging trends and required interventions in particular related to bear, ivory, pangolins and rhino horn. The following is a selection of TRAFFIC reports involving the wildlife trade in Cambodia:
· Stoner, S., Krishnasamy, K., Wittmann, T., Delean, S. and Cassey, P. (2016). Reduced to skin and bones re-examined: Full analysis. An analysis of Tiger seizures from 13 range countries from 2000-2015. TRAFFIC, Southeast Asia Regional Office, Petaling Jaya, Selangor, Malaysia.
United for Wildlife (UfW)
UfW is working with the transportation sector through the UfW Transport Taskforce in an effort to encourage increased action regarding the transport of illegal wildlife products. One of the focus activities is to enable the sharing of NGO information on wildlife trafficking with the transportation industry – see below section on private sector commitment building.
In 2014 and 2015 the global law firm, DLA Piper, undertook reviews of wildlife legislation in a number of countries involved in the illegal wildlife trade as either predominantly supply, transit and consumer locations. This work was undertaken pro bono in support of United for Wildlife. These reports provide a snap shot of the wildlife legislation as well as identifying any ancillary legislation that can be used in the prosecution of wildlife crimes. Cambodia was included in the second phase of reports under this work.
United Nations Development Programme (UNDP)
UNDP is developing a GEF-financed regional project across tiger range states titled “South-South Cooperation for Sustainability of the Global Tiger Recovery Programme” that will be implemented with the Global Tiger Forum. The project’s goal is to promote the long-term survival of the tiger in ecologically intact landscapes across its range. The project will develop and test a simplified and harmonized monitoring and reporting protocol in close consultation with the 13 tiger range countries, tiger researchers and other relevant scientists, conservation practitioners and managers of tiger areas. The project will also address the financial sustainability of tiger conservation by making the business case for tiger conservation, developing new streams of domestic finance for tigers and targeting private finance at the regional level. Finally, the project will ensure that tiger range countries have sufficient capacity, tools and mechanisms for effective implementation, monitoring and updating of their respective National Tiger Recovery Plans, including collaboration and joint action in thematic areas that transcend national boundaries.
United Nations Environment Programme (UN Environment)
UN Environment, in partnership with the United Nations Development Programme and others, will convene an Africa-Asia Symposium on Strengthening Legal Frameworks to Combat Wildlife Crime on 4-5 July 2017 in Bangkok – see reference below in commitment building section, and as referenced by Symposium partner UNDP.
United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC)
UNODC has supported the establishment of a network of more than 70 Border Liaison Offices (BLOs) through its Border Management Programme throughout the Greater Mekong Sub-region, including in Cambodia, China, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand, and Vietnam. UNODC provides regular training and capacity building support to BLOs to ensure that border law enforcement agencies have standardized knowledge, skills and communication mechanisms to collect and share information and intelligence, and are able to better respond to the growing threat of cross-border crimes in the region.
UNODC and WCO partner in the Global Container Control Programme (CCP), which operates in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) countries including Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam. The CCP aims to secure the global containerized supply chain and minimize the risk of shipping containers being exploited for illicit trafficking, transnational organized crime, and other forms of black market activity. The CCP works with governments to establish inter-agency container profiling units, and strengthen the capacity of customs and law enforcement authorities through the delivery of training, mentoring, equipment, standard operating procedures, and access to tools and databases.
UNODC organizes the Wildlife Inter-Regional Enforcement Meetings (WIRE), which offer specialized platforms for law enforcement officials to develop ties with their direct counterparts in African and Asian countries:
· A WIRE-Police meeting was held in November 2016 in Bangkok for police and wildlife investigators from India, Kenya, South Africa, and ASEAN countries including Cambodia, as well as INTERPOL, Lusaka Agreement Task Force, UNODC and WCO, to exchange criminal intelligence for the identification of wildlife trafficking routes, groups and trends.
· A WIRE-Prosecutors meeting was held in March 2017 in Bangkok for prosecutors with experience in wildlife crime cases and for Central Authorities responsible for sending and receiving mutual legal assistance requests, from Botswana, Kenya, Uganda, and six key ASEAN countries including Cambodia. This meeting focused on effective use of MLA, and authorization for the use of specialized investigative techniques for wildlife crime cases.
· A WIRE-Customs meeting will also be organized in 3rd quarter 2017 on identifying CITES-risk indicators to assist the detection of containers and cargoes potentially carrying illegal wildlife products.
UNODC intends to provide the following training to law enforcement agencies in Cambodia:
· A training course in April 2017 on prosecution of wildlife crime cases for Cambodian prosecutors, focusing on best practices for gathering and handling evidence for wildlife crime cases, case management, communication channels to request information and mutual legal assistance, and preparing and presenting wildlife crime cases in court.
· A training course will be conducted in September 2017 as a synergy between the CCP and the UNODC Global Programme for Combating Wildlife and Forest Crime, for Cambodian customs and police officers on CITES regulations and procedures for checking CITES permits, risk analysis and management, methods of concealment and criminal modus operandi in relation to wildlife and timber trafficking in the containerized supply chain.
· A cross-border cooperation course on anti-smuggling and advanced investigative techniques for frontline law enforcement officials will be held in July 2017 at BLOs between Cambodia-Thailand.
· In 2017 UNODC will work in cooperation with the United Nations Programme on Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation (UN-REDD) and Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand and Vietnam to draft a set of Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) to combat wildlife and timber trafficking, based on the BLO mechanism. The SOPs will aim to enable law enforcement authorities to take an agreed standardized approach to respond to cross-border wildlife and timber trafficking cases and efficiently engage in international cooperation.
USAID Wildlife Asia
USAID Wildlife Asia will strengthen regional law enforcement capacity and coordination by institutionalizing capacity building efforts in Cambodia, Laos, Thailand, and Vietnam. This will occur through the establishment of a working group tasked with developing and delivering competency standards for key positions within judicial and law enforcement agencies responsible for addressing wildlife crime and trafficking in the region. In addition, USAID Wildlife Asia will strengthen regional and international cooperation and coordination through training and networking workshops, including convening targeted Asia/Africa Special Investigation Group (SIG) meetings designed to allow sharing of information and building collaborative efforts across agencies and borders of both source, transit and demand countries. The USAID Wildlife Asia Activity is implemented by the International Resources Group (IRG) – which is owned by RTI International – with a consortium of organizations and companies including FHI 360, International Fund for Animal Welfare, Freeland and Integra.
USAID Wildlife Asia will identify priorities in laws, policies and jurisprudence on which to focus in Cambodia, Laos, Thailand and Vietnam. USAID Wildlife Asia will host capacity-building events for parliaments; present and develop conservation fund models; showcase forfeiture best practices in prosecution and sentencing; and develop and propose sentencing guidelines for the judiciary. During year 1, the project will prioritize Cambodia and Laos since these countries have ongoing formal CWT-related legislative reform initiatives both in the legislative and judicial arms of the government.
USAID Wildlife Asia will support USAID RDMA’s activities to enhance coordination amongst US Government (USG) agencies. This will include logistic, technical and financial support for coordination activities; compilation, synthesis and provision of information to USG agencies on CWT efforts of different actors in the region; and emergence of a community of practice and learning agenda for enhanced CWT efforts. USAID Wildlife Asia also will link with relevant bodies such as UNEP and International Conservation Caucus Foundation (ICCF) to capitalize on increased attention to CWT as a priority development agenda for ASEAN and the UN.
Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS)
WCS receives funding from the US Department of State Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs (INL) for capacity building with the Cambodian Customs and Forests departments. WCS is in the process of developing a strategy of capacity building away from classroom training, and looking at the competencies and systems they need; this includes looking at whether technology is needed and how WCS can make this technology useful to the government agency. WCS further examines interagency cooperation and agreements such as between forestry, customs and police. WCS is commencing a strategy on CWT, and is in the process of identifying needs in Cambodia of the Forestry Administration (which includes the CITES reporting and compliance desk), customs, and the Ministry of Environment. WCS is also planning more work with Customs, including training in July/ August 2017 as part of the INL grant.
WCS and partners are assisting the government to resolve specific international cases of ivory and rhino horn trafficking. For example, WCS together with US Department of Homeland Security Intelligence (DHSI) and Wildlife Alliance helped take samples of rhino horn that had come from Namibia – and was the focus of a request by the Namibian police – this contact was facilitated by TRACE Wildlife Forensics Networkto WCS and to DHSI through the US Fish and Wildlife Service in Africa. WCS further worked together with DHSI and Wildlife Alliance on cases of an ivory seizure (inventory and sampling) in a dry port in Cambodia from Mozambique, and WCS organized the first partial inventory of government-held ivory (Forestry Administration) in March 2016, with participation from DHSI. WCS notes that the Cambodian court was enthusiastic about the ability of DHSI, WCS and Wildlife Alliance to provide international support to similar cases.
World Customs Organization (WCO)
UNODC and WCO partner in the Global Container Control Programme (CCP), which operates in ASEAN countries including Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam. The CCP aims to secure the global containerized supply chain and minimize the risk of shipping containers being exploited for illicit trafficking, transnational organized crime, and other forms of black market activity. The CCP works with governments to establish inter-agency container profiling units, and strengthen the capacity of Customs and law enforcement authorities through the delivery of training, mentoring, equipment, standard operating procedures, and access to tools and databases. CCP information also cited in UNODC section on national level law enforcement support.