Ho Chi Minh City, March 21, 2025, Wildlife Conservation Society, Viet Nam Program (WCS Viet Nam) in collaboration with the Procuratorate University’s branch in Ho Chi Minh City and the Criminal Law Faculty - Ho Chi Minh City University of Law organized a workshop on “Handling criminal wildlife cases: challenges and solutions”.
Participants attended the workshop, Ho Chi Minh City, March 2025
More than 50 participants from wildlife management authorities, law enforcement agencies, and judiciary at the central and local levels, including those from Ho Chi Minh City, Nghe An, Thanh Hoa, and Cao Bang attended the event, together with representatives from legal training and research institutions, as well as experts in wildlife protection. The workshop provided a platform for the lecturers and researchers in wildlife protection laws, and law enforcement practitioners to connect and discuss legal reforms aimed at effectively preventing and combating wildlife crime.
Associate Professor, Dr. Le Huynh Tan Duy presented on the orientation to finalize the Criminal Law on wildlife protection, Ho Chi Minh City, March 2025
At the workshop, participants were updated with the situation of wildlife violations and crime in Viet Nam from 2020 to 2024, challenges in handling criminal wildlife cases, and directions for improving the legal framework on wildlife protection. Key topics for discussion included determining wildlife crime based on Penal Code’s regulations, judicial examination and valuation of wildlife products, especially African pangolin scales, and the preservation and handling of wildlife exhibits. Furthermore, the participants also shared their specific proposals for amendments of wildlife-related articles in the Penal Code 2015 (revised in 2017) and Resolution No. 05/2018/NQ-HDTP dated November 05, 2018 of the Justice Council of the Supreme People’s Court on the application of Article 234 on offences against regulations on protection of wild animals, and Article 244 on offences against regulations on protection of endangered and rare animals of the Penal Code aiming to enhance the effectiveness of prosecuting cases involving the illegal possession, transportation, and trade of wildlife in general, and pangolin scales in particular.
The workshop was conducted within the framework of the project “Reducing the trafficking of pangolins in Asia” funded by “Pangolin Crisis Fund”, an initiative by the Wildlife Conservation Network and Save Pangolins, implemented by WCS Viet Nam.