De la Mesa de RedacciónDe Arcano Político
De la Mesa de Redacción
Presentó el Departamento de Estado de Estados Unidos, el cuarto informe anual al Congreso este viernes 6 de noviembre en Washington, según lo exige la Ley para eliminar, neutralizar y perturbar el tráfico de vida silvestre de 2016 (la Ley END sobre el tráfico de vida silvestre).
El tráfico de vida silvestre es un delito transnacional grave que amenaza la seguridad, la prosperidad económica, el estado de derecho, los esfuerzos de conservación de larga data y la salud humana.
En la Orden Ejecutiva 13773, el presidente Trump pidió un enfoque integral y decisivo para desmantelar los sindicatos del crimen organizado, reconociendo específicamente la conexión entre el tráfico de vida silvestre y las organizaciones criminales transnacionales.
El enfoque triple del gobierno de EE. UU., para combatir el
tráfico de vida silvestre (fortalecer la aplicación de la ley, reducir la
demanda y desarrollar la cooperación internacional) priva a los criminales de
una fuente clave de financiamiento y reduce la amenaza para los ciudadanos
estadounidenses.
La Ley de Tráfico de Vida Silvestre END ordena al Secretario de Estado, en consulta con los Secretarios del Interior y Comercio, que presente al Congreso un informe que enumere los Países Focales y los Países de Preocupación, como se define en la Ley.
Cada país de enfoque es una fuente importante, un punto de tránsito o un consumidor de productos del tráfico de vida silvestre o sus derivados. La identificación como país de enfoque no es una designación positiva ni negativa.
Un País de Preocupación se define como un País Focal cuyo gobierno se ha involucrado activamente en el tráfico de especies amenazadas o en peligro de extinción o se ha beneficiado a sabiendas del mismo.
Muchos países de enfoque ya han tomado medidas importantes para combatir el tráfico de vida silvestre, incluso en asociación con los Estados Unidos. Estados Unidos espera con interés mantener un diálogo continuo con los países de enfoque y los países de interés para frustrar el crimen organizado transnacional involucrado en el tráfico de vida silvestre.
Report to
Congress on Major Wildlife Trafficking Countries
Eliminate,
Neutralize, and Disrupt (END) Wildlife Trafficking Act of 2016
P.L.
114-231, Section 201
2020 Report
The
Eliminate, Neutralize, and Disrupt (END) Wildlife Trafficking Act (P.L.
114-231; 16 U.S.C. §§ 7601-7644) (the Act) directs the Secretary of State, in
consultation with the Secretary of the Interior and the Secretary of Commerce,
to submit to Congress a report that lists Focus Countries and Countries of
Concern, as defined in the Act.
Wildlife
trafficking remains a serious transnational crime that threatens security,
economic prosperity, the rule of law, long-standing conservation efforts, and
human health. President Trump, in
Executive Order 13773 (February 9, 2017), called for a comprehensive and
decisive approach to dismantle organized crime syndicates and specifically
recognized the connection between wildlife trafficking and transnational
criminal organizations.
The Task
Force on Wildlife Trafficking (Task Force), co-chaired by the Secretary of
State, the Secretary of the Interior, and the Attorney General, brings together
17 federal departments and agencies to implement the National Strategy for
Combating Wildlife Trafficking (the “National Strategy”). The U.S. government’s three-pronged approach
to combating wildlife trafficking – strengthening law enforcement, reducing
demand, and building international cooperation – deprives criminals of a key
source of financing, reducing the criminal threat posed to U.S. citizens.
The Task
Force’s work to combat wildlife trafficking is making a difference on the
ground at home and worldwide. Task Force
efforts and activities are better coordinated across the USG: efficiencies are identified and exploited,
redundancies eliminated, and resources used more strategically; international
outreach continues to expand; and improved intelligence has identified new
areas of work. Working in partnership
with the private sector, local communities, and NGOs, the United States has led
the way globally, securing agreements and commitments from governments and
stakeholders at all levels to take urgent action. Highlights of Task Force efforts are included
in the separate Strategic Review, as called for in Section 301(d) of the END
Wildlife Trafficking Act.
To improve
accountability and reporting on strategy implementation, the Task Force
developed 14 indicators for monitoring U.S. government-supported actions to
address wildlife trafficking in Focus Countries. Ten indicators measure inputs, outputs, or
outcomes of law enforcement capacity building and cooperation efforts, policy
reform, and demand reduction actions tailored to each country. Four indicators measure dimensions of how
seriously wildlife crime is perceived or addressed in each country. U.S. missions in all original 26 Focus
Countries reported indicator data in 2019.
Almost every post reported that host countries conducted capacity
building for law enforcement in 2019, and over half reported that there were
seizures of wildlife or wildlife products attributable to USG engagement. Nearly half of posts described
demand-reduction efforts in 2019, representing an increasingly sophisticated
and targeted response to the root causes of wildlife trafficking.
Focus
Countries
Methodology
for Determining Original 26 Focus Countries
The
Department of State worked closely with the other agencies of the Task Force to
employ both qualitative and quantitative information to identify Focus
Countries and Countries of Concern, as defined in Section 2 of the Act, for the
2017 END Act Report. Technical experts
and scientists from Task Force agencies established a process to analyze
wildlife trafficking information and gathered a set of relevant and available
data. This analysis included evaluation
of data drawn from public reporting by USG agencies, international entities
such as the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild
Fauna and Flora (CITES), the International Union for the Conservation of
Nature, and the UN Office of Drugs and Crime, as well as NGOs such as the
Center for Advanced Defense Studies, TRAFFIC, the Environmental Investigation
Agency, and Transparency International.
Information from the required national assessments reinforced and
augmented our previous findings.
Task Force
agencies, including those represented at U.S. missions overseas, reviewed the
initial analysis and provided additional information that was often only
available locally. These
country-specific analyses helped to round out the global data, including by
providing information on additional species such as felines, primates, and
marine species. Agencies also considered
the trajectory of wildlife populations and trafficking’s impact on that
trajectory, government and private sector efforts to prevent illegal trade, and
the presence of legal or poorly regulated domestic markets for species
threatened by wildlife trafficking.
The Task
Force further evaluated whether governments had recently taken steps to improve
legislation, regulations, and/or enforcement and other trends such that the
country is stepping up its efforts to combat the illegal trade in wildlife.
Subsequent to the initial 26 Focus Countries identified in 2017, the 2019
report listed an additional two Focus Countries.
2020 Focus
Countries
The
Department of State, in consultation with the Departments of the Interior and
Commerce, and with USAID, agreed that all 28 countries and jurisdictions listed
as Focus Countries in the 2019 END Act Report should remain. Each country previously listed continues to
be a “major source of wildlife trafficking products or their derivatives, a
major transit point of wildlife trafficking products or their derivatives, or a
major consumer of wildlife trafficking products,” and designation that appears
to have contributed to increased attention to combating wildlife trafficking in
some Focus Countries.
Consistent
with Section 301 of the END Act, U.S. missions in each Focus Country developed
a strategic plan, based on the U.S. mission assessment of wildlife trafficking
within that country. U.S. agencies used
the strategic plans to guide and coordinate U.S. government approaches and
responses to the needs and gaps identified in the assessment. The Task Force co-chairs, along with USAID,
developed and distributed templates for both the assessments and Strategic
Plans. All Task Force agencies, both at
post and in Washington, were invited to contribute to their development. The Task Force reviewed for completeness and
consistency, recognizing variability based on location in the supply chain,
resources within the U.S. mission, and previous engagement in the issue.
U.S.
missions in all Focus Countries have completed their assessments and only the
U.S. Mission to Zimbabwe has yet to submit its Strategic Plan. Together these documents provide an overview
of the issues related to wildlife trafficking in that country, identify key
areas for strategic intervention by the U.S. government, and either establish a
new platform or support existing structures within the mission to guide a
coordinated, “whole of government” approach to interventions. In some cases, the development of the
National Strategy brought together for the first time all U.S. government
resources and agencies working in this arena, providing a clear view of the
entire landscape of U.S. government support.
For some, the assessments and strategies offered the opportunity to
elevate wildlife trafficking as an important security and economic issue, not
only within the mission but also within the respective host government.
To assess
new potential Focus Countries, the Task Force analyzed a compilation of seizure
information derived from government data sets, popular media reports, and other
sources that reflect reported illegal wildlife trade seizures around the
world. The analysis focused on data from
2013 to the present for CITES-listed species.
Countries were then ranked by total number of reported seizures, and
nine new countries were identified for further review. The Task Force then
requested additional information from the U.S. missions in those countries and
jurisdictions. The additional
information was reviewed to determine whether other countries should be
added. For the 2020 Report, no new Focus
Countries have been added.
This
determination is based on our analysis of the statutory criteria in the END Act
and does not reflect a positive or negative judgment of the listed countries or
indicate that these countries are not working diligently to combat wildlife
trafficking. Indeed, the United States
has longstanding partnerships with many of these countries with respect to
combating wildlife trafficking and recognizes the strong political will that
already exists in many of these countries to tackle this problem. The Department of State and other Task Force
agencies look forward to continuing close and constructive relationships with
these countries as we work collaboratively to combat wildlife trafficking.
2020 Focus
Country List (in alphabetical order)
Bangladesh
Brazil
Burma
Cambodia
Cameroon
Democratic
Republic of the Congo
Gabon
Hong Kong
Special Administrative Region
India
Indonesia
Kenya
Laos
Madagascar
Malaysia
Mexico
Mozambique
Nigeria
People’s
Republic of China
Philippines
Republic of
the Congo
South
Africa
Tanzania
Thailand
Togo
Uganda
United Arab
Emirates
Vietnam
Zimbabwe
Countries
of Concern
2020
Countries of Concern
To identify
Countries of Concern as directed by Section 201(b) of the Act, the Department
of State, in consultation with the Departments of the Interior and Commerce and
other agencies of the Task Force, reviewed publicly available information as
well as classified material that indicated governments actively engaged in or
knowingly profited from the trafficking of endangered or threatened species. In 2020, no Countries of Concern were removed
from the list, and Cambodia, Cameroon, and Nigeria were added. This designation does not indicate that all
parts of the government are or have been involved in wildlife trafficking, but
there are serious concerns that either high-level or systemic government
involvement has occurred. The Task Force
will, among other things, ensure that U.S. government agencies coordinate
efforts among U.S. federal agencies and non-federal partners, to implement the
U.S. mission strategic plans developed in accordance with section 301 of the
Act, with a view to supporting these countries and their governments to reduce
trade in and consumer demand for illegally traded wildlife and wildlife
products.
2020
Countries of Concern List (in alphabetical order)
Cambodia
Cameroon
Democratic
Republic of the Congo
Laos
Madagascar
Nigeria
