Newly approved Vietnamese Penal Code should enhance efforts to address wildlife trafficking
Hanoi, Viet Nam, 21st June 2017—Some potentially good news to reduce the impact of illegal wildlife trade on threatened species occurred last night when the Vietnamese National Assembly approved the long awaited 2015 Penal Code. The Penal Code will come into force on 1st January 2018.
TRAFFIC and WWF provided input to the Vietnamese Government during the drafting of the Penal Code and although the final version of the Code has not yet been made available to the public, based on previous drafts it is likely that stricter criminal penalties will apply for anyone found guilty of illegally killing wildlife, or trafficking either endangered wildlife or products.
Madelon Willemsen, Head of TRAFFIC’s Viet Nam office said, “This is potentially a very positive step for Viet Nam as it should provide the country’s law enforcement agencies with a stronger constitution to investigate and penalize wildlife criminals appropriately.
“The new Code should provide a platform for cracking down on the criminal networks using Viet Nam as a source, transit and supply country in their wildlife trafficking activities.”
