Hanoi (VNA) - Wildlifeprotection has become stricter under policies outlined in amendments to thePenal Code that took effect on January 1, said Lieutenant General, AssociateProfessor Tran Van Do, former Deputy Chief Justice of the SupremePeople’s Court and Chief Justice of the Central Military Court.

Protected wildlife undercriminal law has been extended from rare, precious and endangered animals toall types of wildlife, he said on January 30 at a seminar Vietnamand law enforcement efforts to protect wildlife organised by CHANGEand WildAid (CHANGE, Centre of Hands On Action and Networking for Growth and Environment).

Under the amended PenalCode 2015, hunting, catching, killing, rearing, caging, transporting andtrading wild animals is criminalised.  This extends to possession of deadanimals, body parts and products of rare, precious and endangered wildanimals.

The maximum jail term forcrimes related to wildlife management has increased to 15 years.

According to amended PenalCode 2015, violations in protecting rare, precious and endangered wildlife areconsidered “very serious offence” instead of “serious offence” as stated in theprevious code, he said.

“Since 1994, when Vietnamjoined the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of WildFauna and Flora (CITES), the country has contributed to the protection of rareand precious wildlife. Vietnam has legalised the treaty in a full manner,” hesaid.

However, experts at theseminar said that difficulties remained in enforcing wildlife law.

Pham Quy Ty, former Deputy Ministerof Justice, former Chief Justice of Hanoi’s  People’s Court andformer deputy head of National Assembly’s Judicial Committee, saidthat violations against wildlife were common, but only a few people had beenpunished, mostly through administrative procedures. The number of criminalpenalties remained low due to difficulties in law enforcement.

“I know a province whichuncovered 35 violations in a year, but 34 of them were administrativelypunished. Only one was accused of a criminal offence.”

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Ty said that difficultiesarose during examination of evidence. He said Vietnam did not have a rare,precious and endangered wildlife examination agency. Four agencies currently incharge of the examination are not judicial examination agencies.

“Carrying animals over along distance, for example from central Quang Binh and Quang Tri provinces to Hanoi,can kill animals. How to take care of and preserve the seized wild animalswhile waiting for examination is another problem,” he said.

Nguyen Khanh Quang, deputyhead of the General Department of Customs’ Anti-smugglingDepartment, said that last year, Customs found 47 wildlife traffickingcases, prosecuted 15, including trafficking ivory, rhino horns, pangolin scalesby road, sea and air.

In most of the cases, theseized exhibits were unclaimed. The owners were not identified as they hiredother people to transport the animals, he said.

Experts agreed on the needfor close co-ordination among law enforcement agencies and support ofnon-governmental organisations, scientists and the public in wildlife protection.

CHANGE and WildAid willsupport law enforcement in wildlife protection this year through communicationcampaigns, training workshops to improve capacity of law enforcement officersand students majoring in law enforcement, said Hoang Thi Minh Hong, CHANGEdirector.-VNA