Staff Reporter
THE Office of the Judiciary has announced the official inauguration of the new Magistrate’s Court for Environmental Crimes in Otjiwarongo. This significant development is set to take place on 19 August 2024, marking a crucial step forward in the justice system’s efforts to combat environmental crimes.
Her Excellency, the Vice-President of the Republic of Namibia, Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah, will grace the historic event as the keynote speaker.
Viktoria Hango, Public Relations Officer at the Office of the Judiciary, explained that wildlife crime has escalated alarmingly in Namibia over the past decade.
“While public focus has largely been on rhino poaching, the illicit exploitation of Namibia’s natural resources is much more sweeping and complex. It has become a massive challenge, not only for law enforcement but also for a broad spectrum of affected parties. Impacts range from direct effects on biodiversity to community repercussions, impacts on livelihoods, the national economy, and the workings of government. The criminal justice system has come into particular focus—between the start of 2015 and the end of 2023, 2,567 wildlife cases were registered; only 958 were finalized. The courts have struggled to cope with the sheer number of cases they are being inundated with, a challenge that we acknowledge and are working to address,” Hango said.
She added that the escalating number of cases is due to increasing wildlife crimes and Namibia’s law enforcement agencies’ collective efforts to investigate wildlife crime.
“The escalating poaching and trafficking have spurred a wide range of countermeasures by the government, NGOs, international funding partners, private industry, and the general public. The Blue Rhino Task Team (BRTT), an interagency collaboration between the Namibian Police Force and the Intelligence and Investigation Unit of the Ministry of Environment, Forestry, and Tourism, was initiated in 2018 as the focal point to coordinate investigations into high-value species crimes. The BRTT works closely with the Namibian Defence Force, the Financial Intelligence Centre, the Namibia Revenue Agency, and the Environmental Crimes Unit (ECU) of the Office of the Prosecutor General (PG). The regional units of these agencies play a vital role in ensuring a country-wide network of law and order, instilling hope for a collective effort to combat wildlife crimes,” Hango said.
She concluded that the Permanent Environmental Crimes Court is a legacy investment that will make a lasting contribution to countering wildlife and broad environmental crime in the country. “It will help address several long-standing challenges, including the problem of drawn-out cases and court-case backlogs. For everyone involved in countering wildlife crime and the law-abiding citizens of our country, this is a bright beacon of hope that can close the circle of protecting wildlife and the broader environment, investigating and prosecuting crimes, and giving convicted perpetrators appropriate punishments,” Hango said.
Picture for illustrative purposes only.
