United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime

The UNODC Regional Office in East Africa (ROEA)

Kenya, Tanzania, and Uganda meet to address organized wildlife and timber trades

Bangkok (Thailand), 30 November - 2 December 2022 – Delegates from Kenya, Tanzania, and Uganda contributed to the sixth Wildlife Inter-Regional Enforcement meeting (‘WIRE’) held in Bangkok, Thailand, early this month. Kenya, Tanzania, and Uganda have a vested interest in building relationships to better address the illicit wildlife and timber trades, as many key CITES listed species reside in their region. 

Illicit wildlife and timber trades often involve the consolidation of goods across borders - both within the East African region and internationally. Kenya, Tanzania, and Uganda, all Member States of the East African Community and its Strategy to Combat Poaching, have existing relationships that can contribute to cooperation in complex criminal matters. But at the international level, collaboration can become challenging if relationships do not exist between criminal justice practitioners who require exchange of information and intelligence to effectively respond to organized crime.

Through the Wildlife Inter-Regional Enforcement meetings (‘WIRE’), delegates from countries within various regions have the chance to come together and discuss transnational cases, share best practices, and strengthen cross-regional relationships. This better enables practitioners to cooperate in investigations and prosecutions of international wildlife and forest cases, where cooperation is necessary to seize illicit product, collect evidence for a criminal trial, identify or apprehend international suspects, set up a joint operation, or share new trafficking techniques used by illicit networks.

The WIRE facilitates closed-door meetings, where delegates can discuss sensitive and ongoing wildlife and forest cases with their counterparts in Africa, Asia, and Latin America.

A more in-depth look at the WIRE meeting can be found here

Social media on the WIRE meeting can be found here

For more information on the WIRE meetings, please contact: 

Mr Giovanni Broussard - giovanni.broussard@un.org