Organized Crime and Wildlife

Where the wild things are stored - the management and return of seized wildlife 

Anna Saito

Seizures have become a popular measure to disrupt illegal wildlife trade (IWT) flows. These seizures can consist of dead specimens and their derivatives in the form of trophies, food, cosmetics, fashion, ornamental or medicinal products, but they may also involve live specimens (IUCN 2019; UNODC 2016). While seizure data alone is deemed an insufficient measure of IWT, given the complexity of the many drivers and pressures associated with it (EIA 2022; Felbab-Brown 2017), the number of wildlife seizures over recent years indicate not only an increasing uptake of wildlife crime as a serious crime, but also provide tangible evidence of a global illicit trade that is in progress, resulting in an elevated number of wildlife (contraband) confiscated by enforcement agencies every year (Rivera, Knight and McCulloch 2021). Attention yet often ends at this point with the handling of confiscated wildlife remaining to this day an invisible aspect in the global response to IWT. This yet raises a vital question: what happens with the confiscated ''wildlife'', i.e. the live animals, dead animals and derivatives, and how are they managed? Even though some previous studies address the issue of wildlife seizure management from a conservation or animal harm perspective (see for example Wyatt et al. 2022; Gomes Destro et al. 2019; Collard 2014), there seems to be a lack of debate on the overall management of seized wildlife from a criminological perspective.

By situating the study in broader green criminological, conservation/animal welfare and commodification frameworks, I deliberate on the present state and challenges of seizure management, by exploring the practices of countries in addressing wildlife crime, taking concrete examples from Central Europe and East Africa. Using a mixture of documentary analysis and key informant interviews conducted between October 2023 and April 2024, a cross-regional focus was chosen in order to consolidate insights along trafficking routes (Pascual and Wingard 2023a; Milner Gulland et al. 2018) and help reflect the divergent priorities around IWT and the resulting management mechanisms. Management practices are nuanced and remain embedded in their respective national and regional contexts. The unequal distribution of resources to effectively combat wildlife crime creates an imbalance as to what regions can access international governance mechanisms more readily. Accountability and transparency in seizure management remain an issue, as low prioritisation, resource allocation and infrastructure remain wanting, and international cooperation mechanisms continue to operate in a disjointed manner. Wildlife seizure management is thus fraught with inconsistencies, with compromises continually being made between the disruption of crime and the undermining of bringing criminals to justice, between fighting corruption and denying principles of sovereignty, between animal welfare and pragmatic concerns. In laying this much-needed groundwork for understanding seizure management in practice, this study offers important insights into extant enforcement and conservation needs, the efficiency of applied mechanisms and the barriers encountered in their use, to allow the investigation for more substantive questions around conservation, criminal justice and opportunities for change.

Transnational crime element in wildlife crime, the importance of the UNTOC, focusing on Eastern European Countries

Johanna Orsolya Sziebig

Transnational organised crime seriously impacts the environment, as the correlation was acknowledged in several UN resolutions. The United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized Crime is essential to combat environmental crime, including wildlife crime. The UNTOC was accepted within the United Nations framework and adopted by the General Assembly Resolution 55/25 in November 2000. In the last few decades, organised criminal groups have noticed the valuable possibility of exploiting natural resources, thus facilitating transnational environmental crime. In 2018, the CoP accepted the resolution 9/1 entitled „Establishment of the Mechanism for the Review of the Implementation of the United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized Crime and the Protocols”. In 2020, the decision was made to launch the review mechanism. The information gathered by self-assessment questionnaires will provide essential feedback on the national implementation of the UNTOC. 

In my presentation, I would like to elaborate on the complex definition of wildlife crime as a form of environmental crime. I will concentrate on the connection points of transnational organized crime and environmental crime, analysing the importance and role of international instruments, primarily the Transnational Organized Crime Convention, in fighting transnational environmental crime, including wildlife crime. Also, as a focus point, I want to discuss the characteristics of Eastern European Countries.

Organised crime in wildlife crime in Hungary

Csaba Zsigmond

Wildlife crime refers to the illegal hunting, taking alive, acquisition or trade in wild fauna and flora species protected by an international convention or by the domestic law of a nation state. As this type of illegal activity can bring huge profits on the black market, an increasing number of organised criminal groups have begun to engage in this activity. The illegal trade spans continents and borders. These facts have been confirmed in reports by numerous international organisations (UNODC, INTERPOL, EUROPOL). At present, given the organised and international nature of the activity, the Council of the EU considers the fight against wildlife crime as a priority as much as the fight against drug trafficking, trafficking in human beings or smuggling of human beings. I conducted empirical research on this topic, the main question of which was to what extent Hungary, as a member state of the EU, is involved in this category of crime, whether it is a destination, transit or source country, and to what extent organised crime groups are present. My research was based on the Palermo Convention's definition of organised criminal groups. The research method was based on the analysis of statistical data, semi-structured expert interviews and the analysis of various seizure data. As a result of the research, I found that Hungary is involved, albeit not significantly, in this category of crime, mainly as a transit and destination country, and that certain organised criminal groups are also involved in trafficking in Hungary.