Edited by France Desmarais

Every day, cultural objects disappear. Stolen from their place of conservation – whether pilfered from a museum or, as is most often the case, ripped out of an archeological site – they embark on the road often travelled by illicit antiquities. A road we are still trying to map with more precision. The desire to better understand that journey, to figure out what the routes are, to know who the culprits could be, and of course to discover where these coveted objects end up, spurred the creation of the first – and only – International Observatory on Illicit Traffic in Cultural Goods by the International Council of Museums (ICOM) in December 2012, thanks to a grant from the European Commission. ICOM has, for long, been at the forefront of the fight against illegal trade. The protection of the world’s cultural heritage has featured in the organization’s mission statement since 1947, a year into its creation 70 years ago. Ever since, as the voice of the world museum community, ICOM has played a foremost part in advocating advancement in the protection of cultural heritage practice in general, and in countering illegal trade in particular (UNESCO 1972). From the Code of Ethics for Museums, now referred to as the international deontological standard for museum professionals, to the well-known Red Lists of Cultural Objects at Risk, directly associated with helping law enforcement recognize and seize important quantities of antiquities, the aim has always been to develop innovative practical tools designed to help protect cultural property. In need of figures In 2011, the idea of creating an observatory stemmed from the dire need to obtain more information on the whereabouts of stolen objects and more reliable facts and figures on illicit traffic in art and heritage. It is surprising, to say the least, that illicit traffic in cultural objects should have been officially recognized for decades – if not a century – but that no organization gathered official global statistics to illustrate the extent of the problem. Many numbers are brought forward by different expert organizations to quantify the trade, in mass or in financial value. Some of those numbers are astronomical. Yet, none can be confirmed by official empirical data. While the INTERPOL Expert Group on Stolen Cultural Property concluded, in June 2015, that data gathering and systematic research are of high relevance for combatting the illicit traffic in cultural items, it remains impossible, to this day, to precisely rank illicit traffic in cultural objects so as to measure it to other types of transnational crimes. Although some improvement has been observed in the collection and analysis of the numbers related to theft and seizures, it is unfortunately still impossible to answer questions regarding the number of objects that disappear or are sold illegally each year. In the big data era, and in a moment in time when massive looting has spread to large parts of the world, even as political leaders and the general public seem more than ever concerned about the fate of cultural heritage in danger, this impossibility to quantify seems paradoxical. The reality is that, despite the palpable increase in global awareness concerning the importance of protecting cultural objects, the actual means to support their protection are somewhat lagging behind. If, as a long-standing actor in he global fight against illicit traffic, ICOM wants to keep developing useful tools and proposing appropriate response mechanisms to effectively counter the illegal trade, it needs to know and understand the phenomenon as yet. Identifying the trade routes, the agents involved and the types of objects targeted is the only way to comprehend the significance of the illegal art and antiquities market. This can only be tackled through transdisciplinary research initiatives, such as that initiated with the Observatory project, as relevant organizations are encouraged to do under the 1970 UNESCO Convention. Indeed, Article 17 of the Convention on the Means of Prohibiting and Preventing the Illicit Import, Export and Transfer of Ownership of Cultural Property mentions the possibility for relevant organizations to conduct studies on matters related to the illicit movement of cultural property. Looting and illicit traffic represent one of the global challenges yet to be faced, for which a research and data gathering body such as the International Observatory in Illicit Traffic in Cultural Goods is needed. What we do know for a fact is that museums are particularly concerned by theft in art and heritage, as primary places of conservation from which objects can be stolen, but also as collecting institutions that could, unwillingly, end up buying looted cultural property. Indeed, objects are not only stolen from museums, but they can also land, with the help of sometimes ill-informed accomplices, in the hands of private collectors. Later, through a donation for example, they might find themselves in museums. It is specifically because stolen art and antiquities risk falling into museum collections that it is the duty of the world museum community to come together and counter illicit traffic in art and heritage. The inaugural gesture is to apply strict ethical practice concerning provenance of acquisitions. But it does not suffice. It must be supported by strong national programmes

Paris: ICOM International Observatory on Illicit Traffic in Cultural Goods , 2015. 215p.

UNODC released an Issues Paper on Organized Crime and Gender in May 2022 which focused on gender mainstreaming in the implementation of the United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized Crime. One of the key takeaways from the paper is that gender mainstreaming is not a parallel effort or a “women’s issue” separate from the implementation of the Organized Crime Convention but that it is an integral part of full implementation of the Convention. By not mainstreaming gender into legislation, policies and practices to combat organized crime, this can jeopardize the effective implementation of the convention and be counterproductive to preventing and combating organized crime.

Vienna: United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, 2022. 64p.

By John Hagan

My interest in criminology grew as the Vietnam War escalated. I applied to two Canadian graduate schools and flipped a coin. The coin recommended the University of Toronto, but I chose the University of Alberta, which had a stronger criminology program. I wrote a dissertation about criminal sentencing, which led to an Assistant Professorship at the University of Toronto. Dean Robert Pritchard of Toronto’s Law School encouraged my work and later successfully nominated me for a Distinguished University Professorship. My interests continued to grow in international criminal law. A MacArthur Distinguished Professorship at Chicago’s Northwestern University and the American Bar Foundation facilitated my research at the Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia. I followed this by studying the crime of genocide in Sudan and later the trial of Chicago’s Detective Jon Burge. Burge oversaw the torture of more than 100 Black men on Chicago’s South Side. US Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald prosecuted Burge when Illinois prosecutors would not. Despite many good things about Chicago, the periodic corruption of the government and police was not among them.

Annual Review of Criminology, Vol. 8:1-23 . January 2025

Edited by Anne Peters

This open access book contains 13 contributions on global animal law, preceded by an introduction which explains key concepts and methods. Global Animal Law refers to the sum of legal rules and principles (both state-made and non-state-made) governing the interaction between humans and other animals, on a domestic, local, regional, and international level. Global animal law is the response to the mismatch between almost exclusively national animal-related legislation on the one hand, and the global dimension of the animal issue on the other hand. The chapters lay some historical foundations in the ius naturae et gentium, examine various aspects of how national and international law traditionally deals with animals as commodity; and finally suggest new legal concepts and protective strategies. The book shows numerous entry points for animal issues in international law and at the same time shifts the focus and scope of inquiry.

Berlin; Heidelberg: Springer, 2020. 180p.

By Camila Gianella, Maritza Paredes and Lorena Figueroa

Policies and strategies implemented to combat illegal logging in Peru appear to have had limited success. Addressing corruption in the forest sector requires an understanding of the role of political and informal power arrangements that shape individual and collective behaviours. Forest governance outcomes can only be strengthened by considering the networks, actors, powers, and interests that interact with wider conditions.

Bergen, Norway: Chr. Michelsen Institute, 2021. 25p.

By Jason Lowther, Dee Cook and Martin Roberts

The attitude of the UK's legal system towards the ever-increasing illegal wildlife trade is inconsistent. It does not adequately reflect the nature and impact of the crimes, and it is erratic in its response. The result is that the courts perceive wildlife crime as low priority, even though it is on the increase.

Godalming, UK: Traffic, 2002. 42p.

By Environmental Incentives, LLC, Foundations of Success, and ICF International

Killing protected or managed species and the illegal trade in wildlife and their related parts and products (hereafter called “wildlife crime”) are among the most severe threats to global biodiversity. Hundreds of millions of individual animals belonging to hundreds of species are the targets of illegal harvesting and trade. Wildlife crime not only threatens the survival of focal species, but may also significantly alter ecosystem function and stability when one or more species are substantially depleted or even made locally extinct. High-value wildlife products are often trafficked by organized criminal syndicates and are known to finance violent non-state actors including terrorist groups. Armed conflict can exacerbate wildlife killing and trafficking, and trafficking is frequently associated with other crimes such as money laundering (Loucks et al. 2008, UNODC 2012). Wildlife criminals create insecurity in rural communities and kill park rangers, hurting morale and recruitment of park staff and reducing tourism and associated revenue needed for conservation and community development. For developing countries, loss of revenue from trade, taxes, and/or tourism can be significant and particularly damaging (Rosen & Smith 2010). The illegal trade in wildlife can also introduce and/or spread pathogens (Gómez & Aguirre 2008), posing major risks to human and livestock health, with implications for food security, commerce, and labor productivity (i.e., Ebola virus outbreak). Despite focused efforts often lasting several decades, wildlife crime remains a global threat (Broad & Damania 2010, Sharma et al. 2014). The importance of wildlife crime as a threat to conservation and development has attracted the attention of governments, non-governmental organizations (NGOs), research institutions, and multilateral organizations globally. Strategies to combat wildlife crime depend on accurate and reliable knowledge,

Washington, DC: United States Agency for International Development, 2017. 76p.

By Dave Currey, Faith Doherty, Sam Lawson, Julian Newman, and A. Ruwindrijarto

A report into illegal logging in Indonesia and South-East Asia, and the international consumption of illegally sourced timber. For the past two decades, the international community has been aware of rampant logging of tropical forests and vanishing biodiversity. Yet even if you could track an illegally cut tree to a port in a timber consuming country, and supply conclusive evidence that it was illegally cut, none of them have legislation in place that would allow their enforcement authorities to seize the shipment.

London; Washington, Environment Protection Agency; Bogor, Indonesia: Telapak, 2001. 36p.

By United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC)

The present version of the Wildlife and Forest Crime Analytic Toolkit is an initial attempt to provide a comprehensive overview for understanding the main issues related to environmental offences and for analysing preventive and criminal justice responses to wildlife and forest offences in a given country. Efforts have been made to provide a framework through which measures for prevention and response can be analysed and understood as the basis for an effective national response to wildlife and forest offences. The Toolkit is designed mainly to assist government officials in wildlife and forestry administration, Customs and other relevant enforcement agencies. It will help them to conduct a comprehensive analysis of possible means and measures to protect wildlife and forests and monitor their use and thus, to identify technical assistance needs. In this sense, the Toolkit may also be used as training material for law enforcers. In addition, other stakeholders at the international and national levels, as well as civil society, may find the Toolkit useful regarding their daily responsibilities. The Toolkit can be used effectively to address (a) a wide range of wildlife and forest offences, including illegal logging and illegal trade in timber and a lack of adherence to the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) and, (b) the usefulness of the United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized Crime and the United Nations Convention against Corruption.

New York: United Nations, 2012. 212p,

By Irvin Kerman

The Guiana’s ecosystems provide habitats to over 4,500 species of flowering plants, 660 species of birds, 300 species of freshwater fishes, 180 species of mammals, 150 species of reptiles and 90 species of amphibians. Of great significance in the Guianas is the large number of wild fauna and flora that are unique to the region. Amongst these are species that are globally in decline but have found safe refuge in the Guianas’ wilderness and are flourishing. Other species are simply endemic to the region, being found in very few other areas of the planet. Amongst the very special species found in the Guianas is the jaguar, Panthera onca, the largest cat of South America. As with species like the giant river otter, Pteronura brasiliensis, the arapaima, Arapaima gigas, black caiman Melanosuchus niger, and giant anteater, Myrmecophaga tridactyla, the jaguar requires an extensive territory to survive and has found this in the Guianas. The extremely low population of humans, most of whom live along the coast, make the Guianas very attractive for forest cats whose migratory behaviour necessitates their having extensive wilderness areas as habitats. Another character that has helped make the Guianas attractive to forest cats has been the general respect and or fear that persons of the region have always had for the species. The jaguar, and many of its smaller relatives such as the jaguarundi, Herpailurus yagouaroundi, ocelot, Leopardus pardalis and the oncilla, Leopardus tigrinus, have rarely ever had to face the threat of targeted exploitation. Human – wildlife conflicts have, in the past, been limited to accidental encounters within the territory of the animals. However, from recent reports to WWF, this situation is feared to have changed. Several species of wildlife are exported annually from Suriname and Guyana to the US, Europe and Japan. Some of these species, particularly birds and wild plants, are also the subject of domestic trade. Globally, illegal and/or excessive trade remains a very significant impediment to the survival of many species. Both Guyana and Suriname have a legal international trade, with export quotas being set per species, based on population estimates and relative abundances worldwide. The quotas also reflect the listing of the species under international conventions. However, the jaguar does not belong to this list of species approved for exploitation. The jaguar is classified by all countries of the Guianas as being endangered and thus in need of protection. This means that it is illegal to target and hunt the species, whether for export, recreation, the domestic pet trade, or for bushmeat. There are only a few exceptions where special provisions are made for capture and shipment for education, exhibition and research to zoological parks, museums and wildlife reserves.

Guianas: WWF Guianas, 2010. 14p.

By Esmond Martin and Lucy Vigne

China is the largest importer by weight of illegal ivory in the world (Milliken, et al. 2009). In response the government of China took steps to reduce this illegal ivory trade in 2004 by introducing an official identification card for each ivory item sold in registered shops. China was then approved by CITES to buy tusks from the southern African ivory auctions in 2008; Chinese traders bought 62 tonnes. In January 2011 we surveyed ivory factories and retail outlets in Guangzhou, the largest city in southern China and an important ivory centre, and in Fuzhou, a city famous for carving. According to a factory owner in Fuzhou, in 2010 he paid on average USD 455/kg for government-owned 1-5kg tusks with a range of USD 303- 530/kg. Similarly, privately-owned raw ivory in 2010 was USD 750/ kg, according to various sources. Siberian mammoth high quality tusks were around USD 400/kg in 2010 wholesale in China.

London: Elephant Family, The Aspinall Foundation and C Woking, Surrey Woking, Surrey olumbus Zoo and Aquarium, 2011. 20p.

By United Nations Environment Programme

The publication takes stock and gives a ‘gap analysis’ of the current status of institutions and legal frameworks relating to the regulation of licit trade, and the prevention, detection and penalization of illicit trade, in wildlife and forest products. It also highlights useful components of existing instruments and possible issues with the content of those instruments, which could benefit from future attention by the executive, legislative and judicial branches of national governments.

Nairobi: UNEP, 2018. 73p.

By Alastair MacBeathbn

The world’s most popular social media platforms, e-commerce sites, and specialist forums consistently host advertisements for the sale of endangered species or products made from their parts. These private platforms bear almost no legal liabilities for hosting such content or facilitating this trade, and as a result, their responses have been weak and inadequate. This also complicates the response from law enforcement. Without a clear legal basis to act and being overwhelmed by and ill-equipped to counter online crime in general, wildlife crime is usually low on police forces’ priority lists. This lack of prioritization ultimately stems from governments who refuse to acknowledge the urgency of tackling threats to biodiversity or to address the challenges posed by weak responses to cybercrime. Faced with almost complete impunity for illegal wildlife traders online, civil society actors, including non-governmental organizations (NGOs), conservation organizations, and citizen investigators are stepping into the gap: monitoring, reporting, running complex – sometimes clandestine – investigations and even engaging in confrontations to disrupt these illegal markets. But unlike law enforcement, journalists and academics, civil society actors have no universally accepted professional ethical standards or regulations to guide their investigative conduct. This community tool is aimed at supporting civil society actors in responding to this critical ethical dilemma: How should they balance ethical imperatives to respond to wildlife crime without contravening user privacy, accepted norms related to mass data collection or a platform’s terms of service? It also intends to provide an overview of the ethical issues involved in civil society organizations’ collection of data, investigation into the illegal online trade in wildlife and possible interventions.

Geneva: Global Initiative Against Transnational Organized Crime, 2022. 36p.

By John M. Sellar

The “tipping point” on wildlife crime is fast approaching: the extinction of key species and irreparable damage to the environment are both imminent possibilities in the near future. Growing demand for wildlife products in key markets has triggered a professionalization and aggression in poaching which is unparalleled. Armed with advanced weaponry, surveillance equipment and facilitated by extensive corruption, the criminal market in wildlife crime is now one of the most significant illicit markets in the world. Key species such as the rhino are being slaughtered at record levels. Lesser known animals are traded at a scale that is almost incomprehensible. This is no longer just a criminal act: it is warfare. The law enforcement community, at national and international levels, has long been engaged in what are described as ‘wars’ against narcotic and firearm trafficking. These two forms of criminality share many of the same features as those of wildlife trafficking, particularly as all three involve: the harvesting or acquisition of material or products in one State; usually require illicit export from the same State; the subsequent clandestine movement of the material or products across further national borders (regularly many borders and also intercontinentally); illicit import to the State of destination; and final delivery to customers and consumers.

Geneva: Global Initiative against Transnational Organized Crime, 2014. 46p.

By Goncalves, Marilyne Pereira; Panjer, Melissa; Greenberg, Theodore S.; Magrath, William B

Every two seconds, across the world, an area of forest the size of a football field is clear-cut by illegal loggers. In some countries, up to 90 percent of all the logging taking place is illegal. Estimates suggest that this criminal activity generates approximately US$10-15 billion annually worldwide funds that are unregulated, untaxed, and often remain in the hands of organized criminal gangs. Thus far, domestic and international efforts to curb forest crimes have focused on preventative actions, but they have had little or no significant impact. While prevention is an essential part of enforcement efforts to tackle illegal logging, it has not halted the rapid disappearance of the world's old-growth trees. New ideas and strategies are needed to preserve what is left of forests. This paper suggests that current practice be combined with a more targeted, punitive approach, through more effective use of the criminal justice system. It argues that the criminal justice system should form an integral part of any balanced and organized strategy for fighting forest crime. This strategy should include initiatives to enhance the efficiency of criminal justice in combating illegal logging that is, the investigation, prosecution, and conviction of cases, as well as the confiscation of the proceeds of criminal activity. These initiatives should be deployed in parallel with preventive programs, and the two approaches should complement and reinforce each other. The criminal justice system has been used in the fight against illegal logging, but only in very sporadic instances and in limited and ineffective ways. Moreover, in those few cases, it has tended to target low-level criminals whose involvement in illegal logging is due to poverty. As such, it has created no real deterrent and has encouraged skeptics to further discount the relevance of criminal justice methods. The objective of this paper is to inform policy makers and forestry and law enforcement actors how they can use the criminal justice system in fighting illegal logging. It seeks to mobilize them to take action and address the various criminal acts involved in illegal logging operations. The paper puts forward practical suggestions that can be implemented to achieve a tangible improvement in this fight. Rather than focusing on a single element of the criminal justice system, it provides a broad overview of the topic. Future papers may provide an opportunity to flesh out further detail.

Washington, DC: World Bank, 2012. 60p.

By World Bank

This paper has two goals - to motivate policy makers in developed and emerging economies to pay more attention to illegal logging, fishing, and wildlife trade, and to provide a road map to address the root causes of the illegal activities. Illegal wildlife trade directly causes declines in species population, resulting in the deterioration of ecosystem functions. Illegal activities involve trade of species threatened with extinction, including many keystone species. It also covers a range of mammals, such as pangolins (considered the world’s most trafficked mammal), and wood products such as rosewood, and marine mammals such as the vaquita found in the Sea of Cortez in Mexico. For all practical purposes, combating illegal logging, fishing, and wildlife trade is a governance issue that first and foremost requires high-level political commitment at the national and international levels. The financial action task force (FATF) recommendations (FATF 2012-19) provide a framework for a risk-based, peer-reviewed system of mutual evaluations for compliance with global standards on money laundering and terrorist financing. The national risk assessment tools can be expanded to also address illegal logging, fishing, and wildlife trade and other natural resources crimes.

Washington, DC: World Bank, 2019. 70p.

United Nations Office on Drug and Crime

The heedless exploitation of nature by humans has led to unprecedented biodiversity loss and a worsening climate crisis. It is also a threat to human health, as highlighted by the COVID-19 pandemic. Three-quarters of all emerging infectious diseases are zoonotic, according to the United Nations Environment Programme, transferred from animals to humans, facilitated by environmental destruction and wildlife crime. Links between the global health crisis and the illegal exploitation of wildlife have been in the spotlight since it was suggested that wet markets selling wildlife, in this case pangolins, could have facilitated the transfer of COVID-19 to humans. The spike in public awareness of this connection has led to a push for new bans on the sale of wild animals for consumption. It is against this backdrop that the second edition of the World Wildlife Crime Report is published by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC). The report shows wildlife crime to be a business that is global; lucrative, with high demand driving high prices; and extremely widespread. Nearly 6,000 different species of fauna and flora have been seized between 1999 and 2018, with nearly every country in the world playing a role in the illicit wildlife trade

Vienna; New York: UNODC, 2020. 134p.

By Cathy Haenlein.

This paper argues that large-scale illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing takes place on an organised, systematic scale across multiple jurisdictions, and must therefore be recognised as transnational organised crime. Such IUU fishing endangers food security, threatens livelihoods, undermines the rule of law and deprives states of revenues. It also intersects with other crimes, further amplifying the threat to security. Illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing is conventionally treated by governments worldwide as the result of technical regulatory infringements. As such, it is often deemed a matter for industry regulators and dismissed as a trivial issue insofar as it relates to national security. This diagnosis is flawed. Certainly, IUU fishing is often small in scale and conducted by artisanal fishers out of ignorance of laws, or opportunism. Yet there is also evidence that much of today’s IUU fishing activity takes place on an organised, systematic scale across multiple jurisdictions. Testament to this are the volumes involved. Although numerous difficulties affect such calculations, global losses to IUU fishing have been estimated at some $10–23.5 billion annually – equivalent to 11–26 million tonnes of fish per year. The result is the plunder of the world’s oceans, threatening not only marine ecosystems, but also the security of human populations. Large-scale IUU fishing endangers food security, threatens livelihoods, undermines the rule of law and deprives states of revenues. It also intersects with other crimes, further amplifying the threat to security. Yet research on these security dimensions is limited and fragmented; our understanding of their dynamics remains partial. Policy and practical responses, meanwhile, remain ill-suited, failing to keep pace with the complexity of the threat posed.

London: Royal United Services Institute (RUSI), 2019. 56p.

By Economist Intelligence Unit.

Behind most every major headline, every major story in the news, lies another potential headline and another story about some form of illicit trade. From the refugee crises in the Mediterranean and South-east Asia, where the chaos is providing cover for human traffickers, to North Korea, a criminal state that couldn’t survive if it didn’t trade in arms, illicit cigarettes and counterfeit currency. Even the investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 US presidential election has led to indictments on money laundering, which is both a product of illicit trade and a facilitator of it. To measure how nations are addressing these and other issues related to illicit trade, the Transnational Alliance to Combat Illicit Trade (TRACIT) has commissioned the Economist Intelligence Unit to produce the Global Illicit Trade Environment Index. The global index expands upon an Asia-specific version, originally created by The Economist Intelligence Unit in2016toscore17economiesinAsiaonthe extent to which they enabled or prevented illicit trade. This year’s updated and expanded version now includes 84 economies, providing a global perspective and new insights on the trade’s societal and economic impacts.During research for the construction of the index and in writing this report, The Economist Intelligence Unit interviewed executives and • experts from across the world. Their time and insights are greatly appreciated.

NY: TRACIT 2017. 44p.

By Transnational Alliance to Combat Illicit Trade (TRACIT)

South Africa is one of the largest and most diversified economies in Africa. The country has a well-established manufacturing base, is a major supplier of goods and services to the continent, has a large consumer base, serves as a regional transport hub, has a strong tourism and financial sector, as well as robust traditional sectors such as agriculture and mining. This diversification, however, means that South Africa also faces challenges from illicit trade on multiple fronts. This publication explores the situation in South Africa and highlights a number of regulatory and legal mechanisms that the government can implement to better control and combat illicit trade.

NY: TRACIT. October 2019. 11p.