Tag Archives: Vietnam
4 June 2014
At the 13th IISS Asian Security Summit on 31 May, Vietnam’s Defense Minister, General Tanh, delivered a speech stating – according to Vietnam Breaking News – that in order to manage risks that may cause disputes, all countries should share the same perspective on international responsibilities. (more…)
Source: Vietnam Breaking News | Minister calls on nations to share responsibility
Source: TalkVietnam | Defence minister calls on countries to share responsibility for peace
12 March 2014
Reuters reports that while Malaysia is conducting an investigation into the missing Flight MH370, with the assistance of foreign governments and agencies, they do not have the legal powers needed for a formal international probe under UN-sanctioned rules. Such powers include the right to take testimony from witnesses, the right to have exclusive control over the release of information and ability to centralise evidence. Additionally, under a formal investigation, a board is established comprised of the plane maker, engine maker, unions, the airline and aviation safety regulatory agency of the country where the airline is based. Furthermore, no other state has taken the lead in an official probe into the missing Flight MH370. Industry experts say this leadership vacuum is unprecedented. (more…)
Source: Reuters | Legal limbo hampers probe into missing Malaysia jet
Source: Free Malaysia Today | Legal limbo hampering search for missing plane
28 August 2013
The Vietnamese CITES Management Authority and Humane Society International announced the launching of a public awareness raising campaign aimed at reducing demand for rhino horn in Vietnam where rhino horn is used for traditional Asian medicine.
Vietnam is considered by the Conference of the Parties of CITES to be the principal consumer country for rhino horn originating mainly from South Africa where more than 580 rhinos have been poached this year. In connection with the launching, Vietnam’s Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development emphasised the importance of international cooperation as a crucial element in addressing conservation of endangered wildlife.
Source: Africa Science News | Campaign Launched to Reduce Demand for Rhino Horn
Source: CITES | Decisions of the Conference of the Parties to CITES in effect after its 15th meeting
5 August 2013
According to news reports, Czech authorities announced on 23 July that they had uncovered an international gang responsible for illegally smuggling white rhinoceros horn from South Africa to Asia, where rhino horn is used in traditional medicine.
According to Czech authorities, the crime syndicate had links to pseudo-hunting in South Africa whereby legislation allowing for non-commercial hunting trophies is exploited by proxy-hunters in order to legally repatriate trophy horns to the Czech Republic and illegally trade them further to unspecified Asian countries. The uncovering comes after concerns were raised earlier this year over the recruitment of sport hunters in the Czech Republic and Poland in order to obtain rhino horn in South Africa on behalf of Vietnamese operatives.
Source: AFP | Czech police crack rhinoceros horn smuggling ring
Source: CITES | Interpretation and implementation of the Convention | Species trade and conservation | Rhinoceroses | Report of the Secretariat | Sixteenth meeting of the Conference of the Parties, Bangkok (Thailand), 3-14 March 2013 | CoP16 Doc. 54.2 (Rev. 1)
Source: Save the Rhino | Czech authorities uncover major rhino horn smuggling case
7 March 2013
At the Conference of the Parties of the of the Convention on the Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES), eight states (Uganda, Kenya, Tanzania, Vietnam, Malaysia, Philippines, Thailand and China) were identified as key to the trade in ivory and were threatened with trade sanctions if they do not address failures in protection against poaching, and failures in seizing illegal ivory trade.
Six of these states are states which most ivory passes through (Tanzania, Kenya, Uganda, Malaysia, Philippines and Vietnam), the other two are the states were most ivory is bought (China and Thailand).
The news of threat of trade sanctions coincides with the publication of a report that details the increase in levels of poaching. The report concludes that illicit ivory trade activity and the weight of ivory behind this trade has more than doubled since 2007, and is over three times greater than it was in 1998.
Source: The Guardian | Two-thirds of forest elephants killed by ivory poachers in past decade
Source: UNEP, CITES, IUCN, TRAFFIC | Elephants in the Dust - The African Elephant Crisis | A Rapid Response Assessment
Source: The Miami Herald | Ivory trade nations face threat of sanctions