Internet - A new threat for wildlife

Vietnam's growing economy has boosted the demand for many wildlife products. Along with that, the rapid development of the Internet in Vietnam with more than 50 million users as of the end of 2017 (according to statistics of the Ministry of Information and Communications) has turned this place into a "fertile land" for Offenders commit acts of wildlife violations.

With the speed of rapid spread, advertising information about wildlife on the Internet is able to reach people in need easily and quickly. At the same time, due to the nature of a virtual environment, objects that change accounts often, posting information can be changed and removed very quickly, so the identification of the object's background and the collection of evidence There are still many difficulties, making the situation of wildlife crimes on the Internet increasingly complicated.

Since the beginning of 2018, ENV has recorded nearly 800 cases of violations of wildlife laws on the Internet with more than 1,200 links showing signs of violation. The common violations are mainly the acts of selling and promoting the illegal storage of species or parts and processing of wildlife species, including many endangered, precious and rare species protected at the highest level. in accordance with Vietnamese and international law such as tigers, bears, liars, otters, ...

Communities are no longer "indifferent" to acts of resistance to wildlife

Recently, many images of endangered and rare wildlife have been posted on social networks to show off their achievements to indign online communities. After posting, the brutal killing acts of wild animals have been strongly condemned by the online community. Many people left comments criticizing, even voicing suggestions to the relevant authorities to quickly join in to investigate and handle the subjects. This shows that the community is becoming increasingly aware of the right attitude as well as the drastic attitude to actions that cause damage to wildlife. It is the community at this time that will contribute the largest voice in condemning offensive behaviors with wildlife, and play an increasingly important role in the efforts to fight against wildlife crimes.
In 2017, thanks to the notification of violations from citizens, ENV collaborated with the authorities to handle 219 wildlife violations on the Internet, removing many links as well as supporting the authorities. ability to confiscate and transfer many alive wildlife. Particularly in November, 106 links containing wildlife-related wildlife on the Internet were largely removed thanks to news from the public through the wildlife hotline 1800-1522.

Continue to increase deterrence

Along with the participation of the community, the authorities are also trying to strengthen the investigation and arrest to contribute to repelling crime on wildlife on the Internet.

In late December, the Police Investigation Agency of Vinh Linh District, Quang Tri issued a decision to prosecute an illegal wildlife trade on the Internet. Earlier, in May 2018, thanks to the news of a resident coming to the hotline 1800-1522, the subject was arrested while trading 08 bear claws. Also recently, two subjects in Binh Duong have been prosecuted for the behavior of advertising products from wildlife on social networks. Specifically, in May 2018, ENV received information about an audience using Zalo and Facebook accounts to advertise and sell many products originating from wildlife products. On October 9, police from Thuan An Town, Binh Duong Province, arrested and confiscated 18 claws and tiger teeth, bear claws and clouded leopard at his home. Earlier in August 2018, thanks to a notice of people on the hotline 1800-1522, the Binh Duong Province Police Department of Environmental Police arrested the object of advertising wildlife products on Facebook and confiscated a piece. tiger skin, 5 watches made from tiger skin, 19 tiger claws, 210 bear claws and more than 1kg of ivory items. Earlier, at the end of June, 1.1kg of rhino horn had been confiscated by a Hanoi Anti-smuggling Prevention Team from an object using Facebook for sale.

Not only violations related to "luxury" products such as ivory, rhino horn were paid attention, in early September 2018, Ba Thuoc District Police, Thanh Hoa confiscated a bottle of wine. 12 liters of bear foot 02 soaked an object of advertising on Facebook.

Ms. Bui Thi Ha - Director of ENV Policy and Law Department expressed: “We understand the relevant authorities face certain difficulties in handling violations on the Internet. However, with the success of 2018, ENV hopes that the authorities will continue to strengthen the control measures and handle violations in accordance with the law, so that those who are and intended to use the Internet as a criminal tool cannot continue to disregard the law. ”

In addition, ENV has operated in collaboration with a number of companies that manage Internet applications to eliminate and prevent violations of UDVD. Typically, since May 2018, Facebook has removed 920 links, 76 pages and 155 advertising accounts that sold illegal wildlife on this social networking site after receiving a notice of infringement from ENV. Last July, the governing body of the e-commerce site Shoppee also added a clause in the "Regulations on the sale of products on Shoppee" which prohibits the sale of animal and finished animal products. animals (including wildlife).

Ms. Ha continued to share: “ENV calls on e-commerce websites and online shopping applications in Vietnam to build mechanisms to monitor and remove illegal listings, to become buying sites. shop healthy, do not sell products that violate the law. This will contribute to demonstrating responsibility in dealing with and restricting crimes related to wildlife - a problem that is very complicated in Vietnam. ”

Sanctioning regulations for acts of advertising wildlife trade

• According to point c, clause 2 Article 15 of Decree 157/2013 / ND-CP (amended by Decree 40/2015 / ND-CP), acts of advertising business on forest animals in contravention of The law will be fined from VND 1-2 million
• For endangered, precious and rare forest animals belonging to group IB of Decree 32/2006 / ND-CP; species listed in Appendix I of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES; endangered precious and rare species prioritized for protection in the List promulgated together with Decree 160/2013 / ND- CP, as a commodity banned from business under the provisions of Decree 32/2006 / ND-CP, Decree 59/2006 / ND-CP and the Law on Investment 2014 (effective from July 1, 2015), The advertisement of these species will be subject to an administrative fine of VND 70-100 million according to the provisions of Clause 2, Article 50 of Decree 158/2013 / ND-CP.