UNEP and World Customs
Organisation Begin Cooperation with Shanghai
Centre of Customs Excellence
Shanghai/Nairobi, 16 May 2007- Efforts
to assist customs officers deal with multi-billion
dollar environmental crime are being stepped
up in the Asia Pacific region with help
from experts in China.
The initiative, involving UNEP, secretariats
of the Multilateral Environment Agreements,
the Chemical Weapons Convention, the World
Customs Organisation (WCO) and Interpol,
is aimed at equipping customs officials
with the necessary skills and know-how to
address this growing problem.
A workshop, being held this week at the
Shanghai Customs College, underlines cooperation
that it is hoped will become a lasting partnership
between China customs officials and the
other partners.
Achim Steiner, UN Under-Secretary General
and UNEP Executive Director, said at the
meeting that: "Customs are in the frontline,
expected to maximize the benefits society
can derive from the globalized trading system
while also expected to minimize the risks
and threats that trade can pose - threats
from illegal trade in banned or restricted
chemicals up to managing movements of living
modified organisms and the illegal trade
in rare and endangered wildlife".
He said China, with some 50,000 customs
officials and an increasingly important
role in international trade and global political
life, could make a key contribution in this
field.
Environmental crime and illegal trade is,
by some estimates, valued at tens of billion
if not well over 100 billion dollars a year.
A wide range of chemicals, including persistent
organic pollutants and ones that deplete
the ozone layer, are now controlled, banned
or subject to phase outs under multilateral
environmental agreements.
These measures are aimed at protecting
public health and the wider environment
but also present opportunities for unscrupulous
individuals and organized crime which the
Green Customs Initiative seeks to address.
Meanwhile treaties such as the Convention
on the International Trade in Endangered
Species (CITES), cover trade in wildlife
as part of a range of international measures
to allow legitimate trade in animals and
plants and restrict or outlaw trade in species
under threat.
Mr Steiner said it was impressive that
a treaty like CITES had, over the decades,
become as relevant to customs officials
work as tackling illegal trade in arms,
drugs and trafficking in humans.
The four-day Shanghai workshop, taking
place at the Shanghai Customs College, aims
to 'train the trainers' from regional customs
agencies. It is a concrete example of the
Bali Strategic Plan for Technology Support
and Capacity Building.
Mr Steiner added:" For UNEP, working
with organizations like WCO, Conventions,
national governments and customs colleges
in order to empower professionals to carry
out their work to even higher standards
is a critical part of our work?a critical
part of building an institutional and legal
framework at the global level that turns
globalization into an economic opportunity
with benefits not for the few but for the
many".
Notes to Editors
http://www.greencustoms.org/
Nick Nuttall, UNEP Spokesperson or Satwant
Kaur, Information Officer, UNEP Regional
Office Asia Pacific
