Glossary
- INSTITUTIONS
CITES Secretariat: Administered by the United Nations Environment Programme, is located at Geneva. Its functions are laid down in Article XII of the Convention, which include ‘to make recommendations for the implementation of the aims and provisions of the present Convention, including the exchange of information of a scientific or technical nature;’ which includes ‘providing assistance in the fields of legislation, enforcement’.
Environmental Crime Network: Set up 2011. ‘EnviCrimeNet’ is an informal network connecting police officers and other crime investigation services or competent authorities responsible for fighting environmental crime and Public prosecutors or their networks in European states in the field of environmental crime to learn from each other about the extent and nature of environmental crime, the best practises to handle it. The Secretariat is provided by Europol (see below).
EUROJUST: Established in 2002, headquarters in The Hague. An EU judicial cooperation and co-ordination unit composed of national prosecutors, magistrates, or police officers of equivalent competence from 27 MSs, to reinforce the fight against serious organised crime, as stated in the Lisbon Treaty Art 85: ‘to support and strengthen coordination and cooperation between national investigating and prosecuting authorities in relation to serious crime affecting two or more Member States.’ Also Art 86 refers to ‘combat crimes affecting the financial interests of the Union’. Co-operation agreements with Europol, Norway, Iceland, the USA, Croatia, OLAF, Switzerland, and the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia. Liaison prosecutors from Norway and the USA are now permanently based at Eurojust. It has established contact points in 23 non-Member States: Albania, Argentina, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Canada, Egypt, the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Iceland, Israel, Japan, Korea, Liechtenstein, Moldova, Mongolia, Montenegro, Norway, Russian Federation, Serbia, Singapore, Switzerland, Thailand, Turkey, Ukraine and the USA. It has several memoranda of understanding with bodies such as the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime. December 2008 revised Council Decision aimed to strengthen Eurojust’s potential to help fight transnational organised crime, eg by increasing the interchange of information about serious cross-border cases, and making Eurojust available to national authorities on a 24/7 basis.
European Network against Environmental Crime (ENEC): This is a fixed term NGO project which runs from April 1, 2014 to May 1, 2016, set up by SEO/BirdLife (Spanish bird conservation society) and the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB). BirdLife Europe, Hellenic Ornithological Society and the Czech Society for Ornithology participate as Associate Partners of this project. This allows NGOs to interact with enforcement authorities at an international level (cf. principles of the Aarhus Convention).
European Network of Prosecutors for the Environment (ENPE): In 2012, in Brussels, representatives from prosecuting bodies and environmental agencies in seven European countries from the Environment Agency for England, and from similar bodies in Sweden, France, Belgium, Ireland and Germany came together to establish the European Network of Prosecutors for the Environment (ENPE). It seeks to establish how it can best work with the Commission, and with European Union Network for the Implementation and Enforcement of Environmental Law (IMPEL) (see below) and EU Forum of Judges for the Environment (EUFJE) (see below). The prosecutors’ network completes the chain of representative bodies across Europe for those involved in tackling environmental crime, from enforcement officers, through to prosecutors and on to judges.
European Union Network for the Implementation and Enforcement of Environmental Law (‘IMPEL’): Set up in 1992. Membership of IMPEL is open to organisations or authorities working in the public sector who implement and enforce environmental legislation. It is not open to individuals. IMPEL has 50 members from 35 countries including all EU Member States, the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Turkey, Iceland, Kosovo, Albania, Switzerland and Norway.
EUROPOL: Created by the Maastricht Treaty in 1993 as the law enforcement agency of the European Union that handles criminal intelligence and combating serious international organised crime by means of cooperation between the relevant authorities of the member states. Headquarters in The Hague. Not entitled to conduct investigations, provides support with its tools of information exchange, intelligence analysis, expertise and training to national authorities. Europol cooperates outside the EU on an operational basis with: Albania, Australia, Canada, Colombia, Iceland, Liechtenstein, Republic of Macedonia, Monaco, Montenegro, Norway, Serbia, Switzerland, the United States and Interpol, and it has strategic agreements with: Bosnia and Herzegovina, Moldova, Russia, Turkey, Ukraine, United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime and the World Customs Organization.
International Consortium on Combating Wildlife Crime (ICCWC): In November 2009, five international organizations and agencies with mandates in law enforcement and criminal justice capacity-building decided to come together to work jointly on the formation of an international consortium. Representatives from the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) Secretariat, the International Criminal Police Organization (INTERPOL), the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), the World Customs Organization (WCO) and the World Bank held their first joint meeting in Vienna to design a strategy intended to prevent and combat illegal trade in wild animals and plants, and decided to form the International Consortium on Combating Wildlife Crime to be able to act in a coordinated manner. UNODC focuses on national capacity-building of law enforcement, judiciary, prosecution and legislation. In mid-2012, UNODC, in partnership with other members of ICCWC, developed the Wildlife and Forest Crime Analytic Toolkit. The Toolkit is a technical resource to assist government officials in wildlife and forestry administration and customs as well as other relevant agencies, to conduct a comprehensive analysis of the strengths and weaknesses of preventive and criminal justice responses and other measures related to the protection and monitoring of wildlife and forest products which are crucial to curtailing wildlife and forest crime both nationally and internationally. The Wildlife and Forest Crime Analytic Toolkit aims to provide comprehensive guidance in analysing administrative, preventive and criminal justice responses to wildlife and forest crime and other related offences in a given country. An additional purpose of the Toolkit is to identify the different actors in the wildlife and forest offences chain and to provide an understanding of the factors that drive their activities, in order to begin the comprehension of what may be required to prevent an increase in wildlife offences as a global phenomenon.
INTERPOL: International Criminal Police Organization dates from 1923 is an intergovernmental organization facilitating international police cooperation and has a membership of 190 countries (as of 2015). The organization's headquarters is in Lyon, France. Four official languages English, French, Spanish and Arabic. It is the second largest political organization after the United Nations in terms of international representation. It is not a supranational law enforcement agency and has no agents who are able to make arrests. Instead, it is an international organization that functions as a network of criminal law enforcement agencies from different countries for administrative liaison among their law enforcement, providing communications and database assistance. Interpol's can assist law enforcement in fighting international crime. Interpol’s international databases can track criminals and crime trends around the world. An encrypted Internet-based worldwide communications network allows Interpol agents and member countries to contact each other at any time. Known as I-24/7, the network offers constant access to Interpol's databases. Member countries can also access each other's criminal databases via the I-24/7 system. Every INTERPOL member country has a National Central Bureau (NCB), linking national police with its I-24/7 network.
The European Union Forum of Judges for the Environment (EUFJE): This association was created in Paris in 2004, though established under the law of Belgium. It is open to all EU and European Free Trade Association judges. The objective of the Forum is to promote the enforcement of national, European and international environmental law by contributing to a better knowledge by judges of environmental law, by exchanging judicial decisions and by sharing experience in the area of training in environmental law. The Forum was created with a view to raising the awareness of judges of the key role of the judicial function in the effectiveness of sustainable development, and give the judiciary a central role in the enforcement of environmental law.
The Global Initiative Against Transnational Organized Crime: Begun in 2011/12, it is a small network of prominent individuals who are law enforcement, governance and development practitioners who are dedicated to seeking new and innovative strategies to end organized crime, to examine the global impact of organized environmental crime on security, governance and development. Members are from UN, Interpol (see above), government enforcement agencies and academics.
TRAFFIC (Trade Records Analysis of Flora and Fauna in Commerce): Founded in 1976 as the joint wildlife trade-monitoring programme of WWF-World Wide Fund for Nature and IUCN-The World Conservation Union, TRAFFIC is an international network, with culturally diverse staff, based in offices on five continents, in 20 countries and territories, with ongoing research and activities in dozens of others. The main goal is to ensure that trade in wildlife is at sustainable levels. TRAFFIC recognises the diversity of cultural perspectives related to consumptive use of wildlife. It has grown to become the world's largest wildlife trade monitoring programme, and a global expert on wildlife trade issues. TRAFFIC actively monitors and investigates wildlife trade, and provides its information to a diverse audience world-wide, as a basis for effective conservation policies and programmes. This NGO often undertakes its activities in close collaboration with governments and the CITES Secretariat.
UNITED NATIONS OFFICE on DRUGS and CRIME: Established in 1997. Headquarters in Vienna. The office aims long-term to equip governments better to handle drug-, crime-, terrorism-, and corruption-related issues, to maximise knowledge on these issues among governmental institutions and agencies, and also to maximise awareness of said matters in public opinion, globally, nationally and at community level. The main areas that UNODC deals with are: Alternative Development, Corruption, Criminal Justice, Prison Reform and Crime Prevention, Drug Prevention, -Treatment and Care, HIV and AIDS, Human Trafficking and Migrant Smuggling, Money Laundering, Organized Crime, Piracy, Terrorism Prevention.
WORLD CUSTOMS ORGANISATION: 1948 the Convention establishing the Customs Co-operation Council (CCC) was signed in Brussels and effective from 1952. Now the WCO, it is the global centre of customs expertise and plays a leading role in the discussion, development, promotion and implementation of modern customs systems and procedures. ‘International Convention on the Harmonized Commodity Description and Coding System’ and ‘International Convention on the Simplification and Harmonization of Customs procedures.’
- TOOLS and INSTRUMENTS
EUROPEAN JUDICIAL NETWORK: The original version dates from 1998, but now operates under Council Decision 2008/976/JHA of 16 December 2008, the EJN website allows access to a part of the website allowing interaction and communication among legal practitioners which is password protected. It also contains various legal instruments of the EU, UN and Council of Europe.
European arrest warrant: Scope of the European arrest warrant - Article 2
Joint Investigation Teams: Within the EU the setting up JITs between Member States is provided for in Article 13 of the 2000 MLA Convention and the 13 June 2002 Framework Decision (2002/465/JHA).
Joint Operations: These fall into two broad types. First, the intelligence-led, multi-agency operation targeting a known criminal activity being conducted by a number of individuals with a network which spans a number of countries. These take time to plan and require secrecy in the preparation period and the co-ordinated action of several enforcement agencies, and may be on-going for weeks or months depending on where the evidence from the initial arrests and seizures leads.
National or Jurisdictional Tools - SANCTIONS: Whether these are civil or criminal (penal) in nature they are imposed under the law of the country or jurisdiction, not under the authority of an international treaty or institution.