UNCAC Coalition Guidelines and Etiquette
Please have a look at our Guidelines and Etiquette, which apply to all conversations and the exchange of information within this group and its email list. By being part of this group, you agree that you have read and will follow the guidelines set for the VoC group and its email list.The UNCAC Coalition’s Environmental Crime and Corruption working group seeks to facilitate discussions, the exchange of information and joint advocacy among civil society experts working on these issues.
Working Group Chair: Lisa Hartevelt, Director of Policy and Communications of the Wildlife Justice Commission
In case you are interested in joining the working group, please fill out this form.
If you have any questions please contact us at betina.pasteknik@uncaccoalition.org
The Working Group hosts a dedicated email discussion list as well as several coordination calls per year.
Next Working Group Meeting:
Tuesday 26 November 2024, 15.00-16.30 Vienna time
Find our calendar with all relevant events here
Context in which this group operates
- Environmental crime cannot be understood and therefore addressed without taking into consideration the corruption supporting and facilitating it.
- Vienna is the place where multilateral negotiations on the fight against crime and corruption take place, in particular under the UN Convention against Corruption (UNCAC), the UN Convention against Transnational Organised Crime (UNTOC), and the Commission on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice (CCPCJ), which present important opportunities to raise awareness and provide information on environmental crimes and the corruption supporting them to policy-makers.
Objectives
The objectives of the Working Group are to:
- provide updates on policy developments on the corruption supporting environmental crimes to ensure that all participants are aware of the latest developments on the issue;
- create a space where NGOs can present their findings, reports or campaigns (on a rotating basis) for dissemination purposes;
- transmit knowledge and concerns from organisations working in specific regions to policy-makers based in Vienna to impact policy discussions;
- shed light on practical topics that are not necessarily addressed in other fora;
- coordinate advocacy efforts, such as NGO submissions at fora present in or organized from Vienna on environmental criminality;
- ensure that anti-corruption activists and the wildlife crimes experts work jointly on transversal themes rather than in their respective silos.
Working Group Steering Groups:
Human Rights Steering Group
- Lead: Rob Parry-Jones, WWF International.
Climate Change Steering Group
- Lead: Brice Böhmer, Transparency International.
Illicit Financial Flows Steering Group
- Lead: Olanrewaju Suraju, Human and Environmental Development Agenda.
Communications Steering Group
- Lead: Luke Foddy, Nature Crime Alliance (World Resources Institute).
Relevant resources, activities and outputs:
- Report: Wildlife Justice Commission: Convergence of wildlife crime with other forms of organized crime: A 2023 Review, October 2023.
- Video: Rob Parry-Jones, Wildlife Crime Initiative WWF International, Lead of the UNCAC Coalition Steering Group on Environmental Crime and Corruption and Human Rights, The Importance of the UNCAC and the CoSP Regarding Environmental Crime and Corruption and the Human Rights Dimension of This.
- Video: Lisa Hartevelt, Wildlife Justice Commission, Chair of the UNCAC Coalition Working Group on Environmental Crime and Corruption, Bolstering the UNCAC for Environmental Crime.
- Environmental Crime and Corruption Working Group Submission to the CoSP10: Strengthening the UNCAC to combat environmental crime and corruption, 10 November 2023.
- Open letter to UNCAC States Parties Calling for a Strong Resolution at CoSP10 to Prevent and Combat Environmental Crime and Corruption, 3 November 2023.
- Communications Toolkit for Civil Society Organizations Pushing for Greater Action on Environmental Crime and Corruption CoSP10, 2023
- Earth League International Report: Operation Jaguar: Final Report, March 2023.
- Earth League International Report: Operation Jaguar: Crime Convergence to better understand and combat jaguar trafficking, November 2022.
- Earth League International Report: Environmental Crime Convergence, June 2023.
- Wildlife Justice Commission Report: “Dirty Money: The Role of Corruption in Enabling Wildlife Crime“, July 2023
- Proética (2022). Climate Commitments and Environmental Crimes in Peru: Increase in Environmental Crimes (2009 – 2021)
- Proética (2020). Accreditation of the Legal Origin of Wood Purchases in Peruvian Government Procurement Processes.
- Proética (2020). Manual de delitos forestales: Tala ilegal.
- Proética (2022). Mecanismo en Emergencia. Balance del primer año de funcionamiento del “Mecanismo Intersectorial para la protección de las personas defensoras de derechos humanos” en los pueblos indígenas de la Amazonía peruana.
- Access Info Europe and Working Group submission to the EU Ombudsman on Transparency and participation in EU decision making related to the environment, 15 December 2022.
- Wildlife Justice Commission Report: “To skin a cat: How organised crime capitalises and exploits captive tiger facilities“, November 2022
- Wildlife Justice Commission Report: “Rhino horn trafficking as a form of transnational organised crime 2012-2021: 2022 global threat assessment“, October 2022
- Wildlife Justice Commission Report: “Ah Nam: The Downfall of Vietnam’s Wolf of Wall Street”, September 2022
- Global Witness’s 10th Annual LED report
- Working Group submission to the 13th session of the UNCAC Implementation Review Group (IRG) on Environmental Crime and Corruption, 26 May 2022
- Working Group submission to the UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights and the Environment on Tackling Corruption Linked to Environmental Crimes to Achieve the UN Sustainable Development Goals, 13 May 2022
- RUSI Blog Post: The UNCAC’s Role in Tackling Corruption related to Environmental Crimes, 5 January 2022
- UNODC Report: Preventing and combating corruption as it relates to crimes that have an impact on the environment – An overview, 10 December 2021
- Working Group submission to the the 9th UNCAC CoSP (CoSP 9) on Tackling Corruption related to Environmental Crimes, 1 December 2021
- Blog post: To save the forests, fight climate crime and corruption, by EarthRights International, November 2021
- UNCAC Coalition written submission to the 12th IRG on Tackling Corruption related to Environmental Crimes, 31 August 2021
- Report: Convergence of wildlife crime with other forms of organised crime, by the Wildlife Justice Commission, May 2021
- Blog post: The Link Between Corruption and Illegal Wildlife Trafficking, by Anne Aurore Bertrand, 24 March 2021
- Blog post: UNCAC Obligations Invoked in Support of Efforts Against Wildlife Trafficking in Vietnam, by Olivia Swaak-Goldman, 6 December 2016
- Targeting Natural Resource Corruption project: Publications