Quang Ninh Province, May 27, 2022: The Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) - Viet Nam Program in collaboration with Department of Legal affair and Science Management - The Supreme People’s Court (SPC) held the seminar “Review the 04-year implementation of Resolution 05/2018/NQ-HDTP guiding the application of Article 234 on crimes of violating regulations on wildlife protection, Article 244 on crimes of violating regulations on protection of endangered and rare species of the Penal Code”.
Participants taking group photo at the Seminar, Quang Ninh province, May 2022
Attending the seminar were Mr. Nguyen Bien Thuy - Justice of the Supreme People's Court, Ms. Hoang Bich Thuy - Country director of WCS Viet Nam, Mr. Jonathan Gandom - Law Enforcement and Justice Program Coordinator, U.S Embassy in Viet Nam and more than 50 participants who are representatives from the Supreme People's Court and the Provincial People's Courts of 15 provinces/ cities, Ministry of Justice, Supreme People's Procuracy, Environmental Police Department (C05) of the Ministry of Public Security, Forest Protection Department - Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development.
At the seminar, all the participants agreed that over the past 10 years, the Government of Viet Nam has responded well to the international commitments in wildlife protection through the development and issuance of specific legal regulations and guidelines on wildlife protection, and the level of administrative and criminal penalties for violations of wildlife protection regulations has become more severe. However, after about 4 years of implementation of the provisions of the Penal Code and Resolution No. 05/2018/NQ-HDTP on wildlife protection, regulations on applying criminal sanctions against violations of wildlife protection still reveal a number of problems, leading to inconsistent application by law enforcement and judicial agencies. Therefore, the review of implementation of the relevant articles of the Penal Code and Resolution No. 05/2018/NQ-HDTP is necessary to evaluate the effectiveness of legal documents applied in practice.
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Mr. Nguyen Bien Thuy - Justice of the Supreme People’s Court speaking at the Seminar, Quang Ninh province, May 2022
This seminar is an opportunity for all participants to review and detect inadequacies and problems that need to be revised and supplemented in the Penal Code and Resolution No. 05/2018/NQ-HDTP. Speaking at the seminar, Mr. Nguyen Bien Thuy - Justice of the Supreme People's Court, emphasized that it is time to change the way of thinking about legislative development. The investigation of crimes related to wildlife protection has many unique characteristics compared to other types of crimes, so it should not be solved by legal provisions only. In the immediate future, it is necessary to study and issue specific guidelines such as the handling of exhibits that are live wildlife, regulations on determining the valuation of wildlife, which endangered, and rare species that are prohibited goods…,
At the seminar, participants also discussed the need to refer and apply case law in adjudicating wildlife cases in Viet Nam. A number of delegates from the Provincial People's Courts cited and shared typical judgments that can serve as sources for developing case law applied in handling wildlife-related cases.
Supported by the Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs (INL), U.S Department of State, this event is conducted within a cooperation framework between WCS Viet Nam and the Supreme People's Court of Viet Nam to develop case law for use in CWT cases that would be applied nationwide and ensure more consistent high penalties.