Gives me a kind of good feeling after all that negative critic about this country in the recent months.
Thais praised for wildlife conservation
Saturday Mar 10 21:33 AEDT
Thailand's efforts to fight illegal wildlife trafficking should be seen as a "model" in the region's fight against wildlife trafficking where it remains largely out of control, says a senior Australian customs official.
Richard Janeczko, Australian Customs Service national manager investigations, during a visit to Thailand, also set down plans for Australia to take a larger role in working with South-East Asian countries in efforts to curb an illegal trade worth billions of dollars a year.
Thailand largely acts as a key transit and market destination for wildlife from throughout the region, especially Burma, Laos, and Cambodia.
The Thai government under Prime Minister Surayud Chulanot recently announced a new campaign to promote community awareness with assistance from the United States.
"(The Thai) seizures are remarkable. They've managed to detect and prosecute quite a few people. They're being used as a transit area just like other prohibited goods," he said.
"I'm very impressed by their approach top down, Mr Janeczko told AAP.
"The Thais - they could provide a model. Their executives at the highest level of government and within their organisation see this as serious," he said.
The 10 member Association of South-East Asian Nations (ASEAN) recently brought together regional police and customs officers under the ASEAN wildlife enforcement network (ASEAN-WEN).
"The ASEAN community has got a wildlife enforcement network which is quite active and Australia plans to be more active in this organisation ourselves," he said.
The key concerns lie in the efforts to curb smuggling from nearby countries such as Cambodia, Laos and Burma where policing is more difficult. It is here Janeczko says that the trafficking is out of control.
"A lot of animal smuggling ... animals smuggled from the surrounding region give more the impression that its not under control.
"And because Thailand is used as a transit point the Thais efforts now and our ability to help them will choke off that transit point," he said.
But there are fears that as in the case of heroin smuggling from Burma and Laos, the route - rather than coming through Thailand - has shifted by transiting along the Mekong River through Cambodia and into Vietnam.
"We want to be careful we just don't move the route somewhere else. So were very interested the particular countries all improve their systems so the bad guys just won't pick another country," he said.
"So I think Thailand can provide a very good model for these and other administrations," he added.
Other concerns and the need to crackdown against the illegal trade is if the funds are directed to other criminal activities or even terrorism.
Janeczko recently attended the World Customs Organisation enforcement committee in Brussels that included representatives from all the heads of investigation from the global customs community where terrorism links to wildlife trafficking were discussed.
"We don't know where that criminal money is going to terrorist organisations as well as criminal organisations but we do see patterns of behaviour," he said.
Australia is expected to add its weight to the group when it joins ASEAN WEN later this year during a meeting in Jakarta.
"We'll provide case studies, we'll give assistance in training, we'll provide material from the World Customs Organisation," he said.
Australia is also scheduled to host a meeting of heads of Customs intelligence this year where wildlife trafficking is expected to be a central theme.
