野生動物密輸のハブとなる香港　不十分な法整備が原因　報告

【香港ＡＦＰ＝時事】香港が野生動物の国際的な違法取引の中枢となっているとの報告書が先週、発表された。巨額の富を生み出す組織犯罪を阻止するための法整備が不十分なことが理由だという。（写真は資料写真）
　香港はゾウやサイ、センザンコウなど絶滅の危機にある動物の、取引が禁じられている体の部分を密輸する際の中継地となっており、そのほとんどが中国本土の消費者の元へ送られている。
　動物虐待防止協会のフィオナ・ウッドハウス氏らの２年間にわたる調査で、１００億円規模の密輸に対する当局の対応の不備が浮き彫りになった。中でも最も突出した問題は、野生動物の違法取引が違法薬物や人身売買ほど重大視されていないことだと、報告書は指摘している。
　報告書によると、香港の税関当局は過去７年間で象牙２２トン、センザンコウ７０トン、絶滅の危機にあるその他の動物６６トンを押収。その価値は合わせて７億６７００万香港ドル（約１０３億円）以上に相当する。
　しかし、押収件数が増える一方で、起訴に至るケースは少ないままだ。
　報告書は、香港の処罰は他国と比べて「寛大で、刑務所に収容されることはまれであり、大半の違反者には密輸品の価値の１０パーセント未満の罰金が科された」と指摘している。【翻訳編集ＡＦＰＢＢＮｅｗｓ】
〔ＡＦＰ＝時事〕（2020/10/30-12:04）

Hong Kong is thriving as a transnational wildlife smuggling hub because its laws are not strong enough to tackle organised crime running the lucrative trade, researchers said Friday.
With its busy port and transport links, the semi-autonomous territory is a major transit point for illegal parts of endangered animals like elephants, rhinos and pangolins -- most of it headed for consumers in mainland China.
Record seizures have been made in recent years.
But Hong Kong University researchers said the confiscations mask the lack of progress, noting: No wildlife traffickers have ever been prosecuted for money laundering related offences and no syndicates indicted for wildlife smuggling.
The two year study, authored by Amanda Whitfort, a professor at the law faculty, and Fiona Woodhouse, from the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, highlighted major deficiencies in the city's battle against the multi-million dollar trade.
The most glaring problem, they wrote, was that wildlife smuggling was not categorised as seriously as illegal drugs or human trafficking.
Hong Kong's serious crimes legislation -- which has been wielded against triad crime gangs -- contains wide investigatory powers for the police, including intelligence gathering, as well as heavier sentences for those convicted.
But wildlife smuggling is not listed as one of the areas covered by the law, and researchers believe its inclusion would allow better investigation into the trade.
In the past seven years, Hong Kong's customs department have seized over HK$767 million ($99 million) in trafficked wildlife, including 22 tonnes of ivory, 70 tonnes of pangolin and 66 tonnes of other endangered species, the report noted.
But while seizures are up, the number of prosecutions remains low.
Compared with other overseas jurisdictions, Hong Kong's sentences have been lenient, with imprisonment rare and most offenders fined less than 10 percent of the value of the contraband they have smuggled, the review found.
In May 2018 the maximum penalty for smuggling endangered species was increased to ten years imprisonment and a HK$10 million fine.
But reviewers said some sentencing tariffs still fall below international standards.
Wildlife crimes are taken as seriously by the UN Convention against Transnational Organised Crimes as drugs, firearms, humans and counterfeit goods trafficking.