Snakeheads

“Today is always here […] Tomorrow, never.” Toni Morrison. In late February 2019, Robert Kraft, the owner of the New England Patriots, was arrested in a strip mall in Florida and charged, along with almost 300 other patrons, with soliciting prostitution. Kraft was arrested in the Orchids of Asia Day Spa, one of the nondescript massage […]

North Korea in Africa: Rogue traders

North Korea’s diplomats in Africa have been trading endangered animals for the past 30 years, a report by the Global Initiative Against Transnational Organised Crime has revealed. Embassy staff based in Zimbabwe, Mozambique and South Africa have been repeatedly abusing the immunity of the ‘diplomatic bag’, as set out in the 1961 Vienna […]

Laos: Rough Ways

Coming hot on the heels of the July 30th U.N anti-trafficking resolution, the culmination of 3 years of negotiation amongst 80 members, is an article in The New York Times which emphasises the difficulties of enforcing wildlife laws – even amongst the willing – and shows, once again, that Southeast Asia will remain the front line […]

U.N. trafficking resolution passed

It has long been known that wildlife crime, be it trafficking or poaching, is committed by organised, transnational criminal gangs. The global illegal wildlife market is estimated at $10 to $20 billion dollars by Interpol, with links and trade routes that snake across the global – the majority of which lead to and from Southeast […]

Illegal Trade: Does Kasane signal the end of the beginning?

On March 25th, representatives of over 30 countries met at the Kasane Conference on Illegal Wildlife Trade, and adopted the Kasane Statement to reaffirm their commitment to ending the illegal wildlife trade. The conference was organised by the Government of Botswana with the support of the UK government, and included measures to ‘eradicate the market […]

Spilled Water

覆水难收

Trafficking