WILDLIFE TRAFFICKING AS CATALYST OF (COVID 19) PANDEMIC
Keywords:
Wildlife, Trafficking, Pandemics, Crime, CITES, Covid 19Abstract
Abstract: The global problem of wildlife trafficking has once again been put in the center of attention during the ongoing Covid19 crisis. Regardless of the origin of the virus, whether coming from an animal or stemming from a laboratory accident, and regardless if we will ever be able to establish the facts on this question, the issue of illegal trade with animals, whether being alive or dead, whether their transport as live stock or only their selected body parts, has become topical. Even before the current pandemic, it was well known that SARS, Ebola, Bird Flu, and MERS were caused by pathogens that have spread from animals to humans (zoonotic diseases). At the same time, the wildlife market is one of the biggest black markets in the world. Here is the intersection with the criminal justice system.
Therefore, this paper will deal with wildlife trafficking as a crime in general, then put it in the context of pandemics, as well as analyze the most relevant and/or specific international and national legal solutions on this issue.
References
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Xiao, L., Lu, Z., Li, X., Zhao, X., & Li, B. V. (2021). Why do we need a wildlife consumption ban in China?. Current Biology, 31(4), R168-R172.
Zhou, P., et al. (2020). A pneumonia outbreak associated with a new coronavirus of probable bat origin. Nature, 579 (7798), 270-273.
Callister, D. (1999). Corrupt and Illegal Activities in the Forest Sector. World Bank Discussion Paper.
CITES, List of Parties to the Convention, https://cites.org/eng/disc/parties/index.php, last accessed on August 15, 2021.
CITES, The CITES species, https://cites.org/eng/disc/species.php#:~:text=Over%2038%2C700%20species%20%E2%80%93%20including%20roughly,over%2Dexploitation%20through%20international%20trade, last accessed August 15, 2021.
Criminal Code, Official Gazzette of RS, nos. 85/2005, 88/2005 - corr., 107/2005 - corr., 72/2009, 111/2009, 121/2012, 104/2013, 108/2014, 94/2016 and 35/2019.
Ege, G., Howe, G. (2020). Criminalisation of Wildlife Trafficking. In: Ege, G., Schloenhardt, A., & Schwarzenegger, C. Wildlife Trafficking: the illicit trade in wildlife, animal parts, and derivatives (pp. 245 - 270). Berlin: Carl Grossmann Verlag.
Environmental Investigation Agency, “China´s Wildlife Protections Law”, https://eia-international.org/wildlife/saving-tigers/tiger-farming/chinas-wildlife-protection-law/, last accessed on August 29, 2021.
FAZ (2020, March 2). WWF: Größtes Artensterben seit Ende der Dinosaurier-zeit droht. Frankfurt. Accessed on August 1, 2021. https://www.faz.net/aktuell/gesellschaft/tiere/150-arten-sterben-pro-tag-aus-groesstes-artensterben-seit-ende-der-dinosaurier-zeit-droht-16660249.html
Hefendehl R., von Hirsch, A., Wohlers W. (2003). Die Rechtsgutstheorie. Legitimationsbasis des Strafrechts oder dogmatisches Glasperlenspiel? Nomos: Baden-Baden.
Hemley, G. (2020). “People Want Wildlife Markets to Close—Governments Should Listen.” The Hill. https://thehill.com/opinion/energy-environment/494365-people-want-wildlife-markets-to-closegovernments-should-listen, last accessed August 25, 2021.
Huang, Q., Wang, F., Yang, H., Valitutto, M., & Songer, M. (2021). Will the COVID-19 outbreak be a turning point for China's wildlife protection: New developments and challenges of wildlife conservation in China. Biological Conservation, 254, 108937.
Karesh, W. B., Cook, R. A., Bennett, E. L., & Newcomb, J. (2005). Wildlife trade and global disease emergence. Emerging infectious diseases, 11(7), 1000 – 1002.
Keesing, F., Belden, L. K., Daszak, P., Dobson, A., Harvell, C. D., Holt, R. D., Hudson, P., Jolles, A., Jones, K. E., Mitchell, Ch. E., Myers, S. S., Bogich T., & Ostfeld, R. S. (2010). Impacts of biodiversity on the emergence and transmission of infectious diseases. Nature, 468(7324), 647-652.
Koh, L. P., Li, Y., & Lee, J. S. H. (2021). The value of China’s ban on wildlife trade and consumption. Nature Sustainability, 4(1), 2-4.
Law on Environmental Protection, Official Gazette of RS, nos. 135/2004, 36/2009, 36/2009, 72/2009, 43/2011, 14/2016, 76/2018, 95/2018 and 95/2018.
Law on Nature Protection, Official Gazzette of RS, nos. 36/2009, 88/2010, 91/2010 - corr., 14/2016, 95/2018 and 71/2021.
Law on Wild Animals and Hunting, Official Gazzette of RS, nos. 18/2010 and 95/2018.
Lelliott, J. (2020). International Law Relating to Wildlife Trafficking: An Overview. In: Ege, G., Schloenhardt, A., & Schwarzenegger, C. Wildlife Trafficking: the illicit trade in wildlife, animal parts, and derivatives (pp. 125 - 147). Berlin: Carl Grossmann Verlag.
Nellemann, C., Henriksen, R., Raxter, P., Ash, N., & Mrema, E. (2014). The environmental crime crisis: threats to sustainable development from illegal exploitation and trade in wildlife and forest resources. United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP).
Nuwer, R. (2020). “To Prevent Next Coronavirus, Stop the Wildlife Trade, Conservationists Say.” New York Times. February 19. https://www.nytimes.com/2020/02/19/health/coronavirus-animals-markets.html, last accessed August 12, 2021.
Pires, S. F., & Moreto, W. D. (2016). The illegal wildlife trade. Oxford Handbooks Online. https://www.oxfordhandbooks.com/view/10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199935383.001.0001/oxfordhb-9780199935383-e-161, last accessed August 20, 2021.
Purtill, J. (2020). Wildlife Trafficking in Australian Criminal Law. In: Ege, G., Schloenhardt, A., & Schwarzenegger, C. Wildlife Trafficking: the illicit trade in wildlife, animal parts, and derivatives (pp. 331 - 358). Berlin: Carl Grossmann Verlag.
Schloenhardt, A. (2020). Wildlife Trafficking: Causes, Characteristics, and Consequences. In: Ege, G., Schloenhardt, A., & Schwarzenegger, C. Wildlife Trafficking: the illicit trade in wildlife, animal parts, and derivatives (pp. 1 - 36). Berlin: Carl Grossmann Verlag.
Spapens, T. (2021). Is COVID-19 a Crime? A Criminological Perspective. In: Aarts E., Fleuren H., Sitskoorn M., Wilthagen T. (eds), The New Common. How the COVID-19 Pandemic is Transforming Society. Cham: Springer Nature.
Stojanović, Z. (2018). Komentar Krivičnog zakonika, 7. izdanje. Belgrade: Službeni glasnik.
Strydom, H. (2016). Transnational Organised Crime and the Illegal Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora. In: P. Hauck & S. Peterke (eds), International Law and Transnational Organised Crime (pp. 264 – 286), Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Taylor, L. H., Latham, S. M., & Woolhouse, M. E. (2001). Risk factors for human disease emergence. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B: Biological Sciences, 356(1411), 983-989.
Tollefson, J. (2019). One million species face extinction. Nature, 569, 171.
United Nations General Assembly Resolution 55/25 of 15 November 2000.
United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, Wildlife and Forest Crime Overview, https://www.unodc.org/unodc/en/wildlife-and-forest-crime/overview.html, last accessed on July 1, 2021.
UNODC (2012). Widlife and Forest Crime Analytic Toolkit (revised ed.), New York.
UNODC (2018). Guide on Drafting Legislation to Combat Wildlife Crime, Vienna.
UNODC (2020), World Wildlife Crime Report: Trafficking in Protected Species. Vienna.
Wilson-Wilde, L. (2010). Wildlife crime: a global problem. Forensic science, medicine, and pathology, 6(3), 221-222.
World Bank Group (2020). Violence without Borders: The Internalization of Crime and Conflict. Policy Research Report. Washington, D.C., https://www.worldbank.org/en/research/publication/violence-without-borders, last accessed August 12, 2021.
Wyatt, T. (2013). The Palgrave Macmillan Wildlife Trafficking. A Deconstruction of the Crime, the Victims and the Offenders. New York: Palgrave Macmillan.
Xiao, L., Lu, Z., Li, X., Zhao, X., & Li, B. V. (2021). Why do we need a wildlife consumption ban in China?. Current Biology, 31(4), R168-R172.
Zhou, P., et al. (2020). A pneumonia outbreak associated with a new coronavirus of probable bat origin. Nature, 579 (7798), 270-273.
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Published
2021-11-26
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Section
Criminalistic and Criminal Justice Aspects in Solving and Proving of Criminal Of
