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ASEAN-WEN
stands for the Association of
Southeast Asian Nations Wildlife
Enforcement Network. It is a cooperative
effort by all ten Southeast Asian
nations to end wildlife crime.
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ASEAN-WEN
is the world's largest wildlife law
enforcement network, comprised of
Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia, Indonesia,
Lao PDR, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines,
Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam.
The United States and China are also
cooperating with ASEAN-WEN. |
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ASEAN-WEN
includes law enforcement agencies
of the 10 ASEAN countries. It is designed
to promote cross-border collaboration
in the fight against the region's
illegal wildlife trade. PeunPa is
working to support ASEAN-WEN through
its ties to Wildlife Alliance. |
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Already,
the illegal wildlife trade has lead
to destruction on a massive scale,
threatening irrevocable damage to
Southeast Asia's ecosystems. Part
of the problem lies in inadequate
law enforcement and coordination between
government agencies. In order to effectively
combat the illegal wildlife trade,
law enforcement agencies must match
the tactics of illegal traffickers
who operate within and between countries,
using well-organized, cross-border
networks. ASEAN-WEN is an effort to
build coordinated law enforcement.
Under ASEAN-WEN, Police, Customs and
environmental management agencies
are forming national task forces and
sharing cross-border intelligence
to successfully curtail the wildlife
trade. The network was first suggested
at the CITES COP 13 in October 2004
and further developed by senior ASEAN
environmental officials in October
2005 and launched by ASEAN member
countries on December 1, 2005 at a
high level ASEAN meeting in Bangkok. |
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ASEAN-WEN
has also developed links to the CITES
Secretariat, Interpol, World Customs
Organization (WCO), and United Nations
Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC).
Wildlife Alliance (formerly known
as WildAid) and TRAFFIC, via a cooperative
partnership with USAID, are providing
technical assistance to government
agencies that are implementing ASEAN-WEN.
The employs a three pronged strategy
to approach its goals: |
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Capacity
building largely training up task
force members as well as trainers,
while developing a sustainable training
program, complete with multi-language
curriculum; |
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Strengthening
the network entreating network
members to actively communicate
and operate across borders, something
that happens too rarely even on
issues of higher importance, such
as terrorism and drug trafficking,
and is very rare when it comes to
wildlife crime; |
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Building public awareness
and civil society support through
press engagement, advertising, and
multi-sectoral (public/private) outreach. |
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