Rhino horns trafficked with impunity: report

Source: The post is based on the article “Rhino horns trafficked with impunity: report” published in The Hindu on 17th November 2022

What is the News?

The Wildlife Justice Commission has published a report titled “Rhino horn trafficking as a form of transnational organized crime (2012–2021): 2022 Global Threat Assessment”. The report was prepared with the support of the World Wide Fund for Nature.

What are the key findings of the report?

Rhino horn seizures increased significantly in number and weight, despite a reduction in poaching.

Six countries and territories have dominated the rhino horn trafficking routes from the source to the destination locations, though more than 50 countries and territories were implicated in the transnational crime. These six countries are South Africa, Mozambique, Malaysia, Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, Vietnam, and China.

A third of rhino horns were smuggled unconcealed, suggesting a potential reliance on corruption to move shipments along the supply chain.

There are various types of crime convergence associated with rhino horn trafficking. The seizure data indicate that there could be crime convergence with firearms, illicit drugs, and other commodities in approximately 10% of cases.

What are the recommendations given by the report?

Countries need to treat wildlife crime as a transnational organized crime.

All countries along the trafficking routes need to coordinate their action to address corruption that undermines many law enforcement efforts.  

What is the Wildlife Justice Commission?

The Wildlife Justice Commission was set up in 2015.

It is an independent, not-for-profit organization operating globally to disrupt and help dismantle organized transnational criminal networks trading in wildlife, timber, and fish.

Headquarters: The Hague, Netherlands.