On 12 August the World Customs Organisation (WCO) joined the international community in celebrating World Elephant Day under the theme “Bringing the world together to help save the elephants”. It provides an opportunity to underline WCO’s continued support to its members in the fight against illegal wildlife trade and ivory smuggling in particular, which has become a daily occurrence that requires effective coordination among customs administrations and other border agencies.
The recent seizure by Customs in Hong Kong of a consignment of 7.2 tons of ivory is of great concern to the Customs community and the WCO is closely monitoring the situation concerning illegal wildlife trade across jurisdictions, a WCO spokesman said.
The WCO, as a signatory of the United for Wildlife Transportation Taskforce (UFW) Buckingham Palace Declaration, also continues to work closely with the UFW partners to identify possible weaknesses in the air-transport industry with regards to wildlife smuggling, and continuously identify means by which the sector can break these trade chains.