VNHNO - Vietnam’s judicial staff at all levels are being provided with professional training aimed at improving their capacity in handling cases related to crimes against protected wildlife.
Judges and judicial staff joined a training programme in the central city of Da Nang from July 11-12, with the aim of improving their capacity for handling of cases related to crimes or the violation of regulations on the protection of wildlife and endangered and rare species under the amended Penal Code.
The training course is organised by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), in collaboration with the Supreme People's Court of Vietnam and the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC). Chief Justice of Supreme People's Court, Nguyen Hoa Binh, will preside over the programme.
Chief Justice of Supreme People's Court, Nguyen Hoa Binh, speaks at the training programme. Photo: Congly.vn
Speaking at the event, Chief Justice Binh said that the 2015 Penal Code (amended and supplemented in 2017) came into effect on January 1 this year, featuring new provisions with more severe penalties against crimes involving wildlife than those that were described in the 1999 Penal Code.
The revised law is considered as an effective tool in contributing to the deterrence and suppression of crimes in general and crimes committed on wildlife in particular, Binh stated, adding that it would also make significant changes in strengthening the legal framework to better protect wildlife, as well as showing Vietnam's determination to implement the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES).
The course offers an opportunity for judges from the central to local level to contribute their opinions to the drafting of the Judicial Council Resolution to guide the implementation of the new regulations related to wildlife.
Participants also make recommendations to strengthen the effectiveness of prosecutions and adjudications and the improvement of judicial cooperation in order to ensure the strictness of the law./.
