The Wildlife Justice Commission (WJC) on Thursday, September 25, 2025, published a new report examining whether wildlife trafficking is treated with the seriousness it deserves in national legal systems.
The report provides an assessment of how the UN Convention against Transnational Organised Crime (UNTOC) has been incorporated into domestic legislation, and how effectively it is being implemented to tackle wildlife trafficking. With transnational criminal groups increasingly controlling wildlife trafficking, the need for stronger action is clear.
The report is titled: “Is wildlife trafficking being treated as serious crime? A review of criminal offences, penalties, and implementation of the United Nations Convention against Transnational Organised Crime.”
“This report reflects both the progress made and the challenges ahead in ensuring wildlife trafficking is treated as the serious transnational crime it is. Its findings are a call to action for sustained strategic enforcement, international cooperation, and investment in the tools and partnerships proven effective in disrupting organised crime,” said Olivia Swaak-Goldman, Executive Director of the WJC.
The UNTOC provides a legal framework for international cooperation to combat organised crime, including measures against money laundering and corruption, confiscation of criminal proceeds, mutual legal assistance, joint investigations, and the use of special investigative techniques such as controlled deliveries and undercover operations.
Its effectiveness in tackling wildlife crime and other environmental offences, however, depends on States incorporating its provisions into national law and enforcing them robustly.
The report narrows knowledge gaps in how the Convention has been incorporated into national legislation and implemented in practice. It provides best practices, challenges and recommendations to inform multilateral policy discussions on preventing and combatting serious forms of wildlife trafficking.
Drawing on research from 19 countries most affected by the rhino horn trafficking supply chain, the report analyses the criminalisation and penalisation of wildlife offences in domestic legislation, and how key UNTOC provisions have been incorporated in domestic law and implemented in practice.
Through a selection of 10 rhino horn trafficking cases, the research also illustrates how enforcement and sentencing plays out in practice, providing lessons that extend beyond the rhino horn trade to the global fight against wildlife trafficking and other environmental crimes.