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FREELAND is dedicated to making the world free of wildlife trafficking and human slavery by increasing law enforcement capacity, supporting vulnerable communities and raising awareness. The multi-billion dollar illegal trade in protected species is one of the most lucrative illicit markets in the world today. Combined with habitat loss, it is driving many species towards extinction. Unchecked nature crime not only ravages biodiversity, but the knock-on effects can unravel entire ecosystems. The loss of important watersheds and carbon sinks accelerates global warming, endangers human health and food security. Human trafficking targets vulnerable people for labor and sexual exploitation, destroying lives and tearing families apart. FREELAND believes a compassionate world is a world free of slavery.
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CALL FOR ACTION
PHASING OUT THE ILLEGAL WILDLIFE TRADE “Wildlife cannot be manufactured. And once it’s gone, it cannot be replenished. Those who profit from it illegally are not just undermining our borders and our economies, they are truly stealing from the next generation.” — U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton. On 4 December 2012 FREELAND hosted “Public-Private Initiative: Call for Action” at Suvarnabhumi International Airport, Thailand, offering a preview of an ambitious new strategy to phase out wildlife trafficking in Thailand and inspire similar action across Asia.
, A. Kenney nd, Kristie e December a il a h T to ined th ssador US Amba nd Thai officials jo me. a c ts a dlife ri diplom ombat wil c to t n e v 4th e
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TIME TO ACT
Private sector organizations, such as Kenya Airways, Airports Authority of Thailand, Raitong Organic Farm, and several major hotel chains responded with their own commitments, including taking endangered species off their menus and joining FREELAND’s upcoming “iThink” awareness campaign (www.ithink-now.org) .
Photos: Chrisgel Ryan Cruz
Colonel Winai Sompong, Member of the Thai Parliament; H.E. Kristie Kenney, US Ambassador to Thailand; Police Lieutenant General Pongpat Chayaphan, Commissioner of the Central Investigation Bureau of the Royal Thai Police; and Congressman Antonio Cuenco, Secretary General of ASEAN’s InterParliamentary Assembly (AIPA) were among those who pledged to stop wildlife crime.
FREELAND TRUST OF INDIA At three Wildlife Law Troubleshooting Seminars hosted by the government of Karnataka (a state in southern India), the legal experts from FTI’s Wildlife Legal Help Centre resolved knotty wildlife law problems posed by patrol staff and their officers. The seminars, conducted between November 2012 and March 2013, were held at the Bhadra Tiger Reserve, Kudremukh National Park, and Dandeli Anshi National Park, for nearly 40 officials.
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RHINO POACHER SENTEN
LONGEST JAIL TERM GIVEN TO A THAI NATIONAL South African authorities announced a record 40-year sentence for a Thai man accused of masterminding the slaughter of rhinos and smuggling their horns to Asia for the black market trade. Chumlong Lemthongthai pleaded guilty to 59 offences against the South African Customs and Excise Act and environmental legislation in relation to the killing of about 26 rhinos in bogus trophy hunts. Five other accused individuals were released the charges against them were dropped after Chumlong claimed that he alone knew the rhino horns were being exported for profit.
Photo: NBCNEWS.com
Chumlon g Lemth o the trial in a cour ngthai during t in South Africa.
NCED TO 40 YEARS IN JAIL
L LEADING A POACHING RING IN SOUTH AFRICA Chumlong paid Thai commercial sex workers to pose as hunters to obtain export certificates for horns, which were in fact taken from rhinos killed by professional hunters. The prosecution was brought by the South African Revenue Service and South African Police Service, and has been supported by a parallel enquiry by Thai authorities. FREELAND investigators have been assisting Thai authorities since February 2011 when 6 rhino horns, declared as “hunting trophies” for three Thai females, were discovered at Bangkok’s Suvarnabhumi Airport.
PROTECT THE BORDER PROTECT BORDER TRAINING COURSE
In November 2012, FREELAND organized a two-week long PROTECT training course for park rangers from Cambodia, Lao PDR and Thailand. Waking up at the crack of dawn, and continuing field exercises till late evening, the rangers learned how to protect forests from criminals.
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SPOTTED IN ACTION! In 2011, Anil Mishra, a Forest Officer from Jharkhand state, India, attended a PROTECT-Enforcement course. Later, in a well-planned and successful raid, Mr. Mishra and his colleagues seized a leopard skin and arrested a poacher in Palamau Tiger Reserve in February 2012. Says Mr. Mishra, “Our informer tipped us about some poaching activities in the area. We wanted to arrest the poacher as well as seize the skin to make the case stronger. I therefore, decided to act as the decoy customer for the skin. After several rounds of negotiations I won the confidence of poacher and he agreed to show us the skin. The effort finally led to the arrest of the poacher along with the seizure of the leopard skin.�
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ROOFTOP TIGERS!
SIX TIGERS RESCUED FROM THE ROOFTOP OF AN APARTMENT IN BKK, THAILAND In September 2012, an operations team from Thailand’s Nature Crime Police raided a 5-story apartment building in Bangkok, after discovering a connection between the owner of the apartment and a suspect in a wildlife butchery case from earlier in the year. The police found 6 tigers (four adults and two cubs) in small cages on the rooftop of the apartment. Some were poorly nourished and required immediate care.
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Photo: U.S. Embassy Bangkok
AID IN ACTION U.S. Department of State - Bureau of Oceans, Environment and Science Assistant Secretary Kerri-Ann Jones and U.S. Embassy Bangkok’s Deputy Chief of Mission Judith Cefkin paid a visit to Freeland’s fieldwork at Khao Yai National Park in Thailand’s Nakhon Ratchasima Province on September 28, 2012. They joined with FREELAND Director Steven Galster to discuss the ongoing partnership in wildlife protection efforts which are supported by USAID and Department of State. The efforts include supporting the ASEAN Wildlife Enforcement Network (ASEANWEN), the world’s largest wildlife law enforcement network, and alternative livelihood programs that offer vulnerable community members a steady income alternative to poaching.
“We have to get the entire world to involve in this fight,” Matt Friedman.
HUMAN TRAFFICKING TEDx TALK by Matt Friedman
Matt Friedman, an international counter human trafficking expert, has joined forces with FREELAND to strengthen joint efforts to free the world of slavery. Matt has over 20 years of experience in this field and was a program manager at the United Nations Inter-Agency Project on Human Trafficking (UNIAP). Matt recently gave a TEDx Talk in San Joaquin titled “Every 15 seconds (http://www. youtube.com/watch?v=iU9TeVofkDo)” about modern-day human slavery and how we can help end it. His presentation revealed the truth about human slavery that it continues to exist today across the globe, shattering millions of lives. Watch the talk on www.freeland.org Telling the stories of FREELAND’s diverse staff
Four Questions 1. Which human trafficking issues concern you most, personally? As a person who has been doing counter trafficking work for over twenty years, I am concerned about all forms of human trafficking. This includes forced prostitution, labor trafficking, forced marriage, domestic servitude, etc. Over the years, our understanding of the problem and what needs to be done to address it has significantly improved. This has helped us to be more efficient and effective at going after the criminals and shutting them down. As long as this trend continues, we will continue to see progress over time. Actually, I am very optimistic these days that our collective response will realize some major breakthroughs in the years to come.
2. What has been the most interesting thing you’ve done while working with FREELAND? Not too long ago, Freeland received a call about a Filipina woman who was recently trafficked into Malaysia for forced prostitution. In the past, many multi-country cases like this were considered complicated and difficult to solve. But in this case, it was very interesting to see how easily the various partners worked together to come up with a response that eventually ensured that the victim was freed and that she received the support she needed. This outcome clearly demonstrates that the counter trafficking community in Southeast Asia is getting better at addressing cross-border cases. All the organizations involved were open to sharing information, developing a common plan and helping this person get the support she needed. 3. What rewards or motivates you most about your work? Helping others in trouble is always a rewarding process, especially when addressing the needs of those who are facing grave human rights abuses. When we are able to do this effectively, a victim’s entire life situation can be changed forever – for the positive. As our ability to achieve these results continues and improves, it helps us all to be encouraged and motivated to do more. 4. What are the things you hope FREELAND can accomplish in the next few years? I hope that Freeland will continue to expand its counter trafficking efforts. The Freeland model of working closely with local law enforcement officers to help improve their capacity continues to realize tangible results. Linking these efforts with media reports helps to encourage other officers to get involved and to help the general public understand the importance of these efforts. This is a winning formula that will surely help to reduce the amount of human trafficking in Thailand. It will also offer a model that other countries can follow.
FINAL THOUGHT EXTINCTION IN A BOWL
Photo: Sirachai (Shin) Arunrugstichai
What if a bowl of shark fin soup is served on your dining table? Are you going to drink it? Before you make a decision, look at what you are really consuming in a bowl of shark fin soup. Shark fin itself has no flavor and lacks nutritional value. What you actually taste is the soup broth rather than the shark fin. Shark fin can contain a very high level of mercury, which is hazardous to human health. To make a bowl of shark fin soup, fishermen usually drag a shark out of the sea, slice off its fins, and throw the shark back into the sea to die. Now that you know this, what will be your decision if a bowl of shark fin soup is served at your next meal? Will you go Fin Free? (www.finfreethai.com)
WHAT CAN YOU DO? Report anything you see that looks suspicious to us at info@freeland.org We will follow up. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter and YouTube. Tell your friends, spread the word, make a donation. It’s a big problem, but together we are a bigger solution!
FREELAND
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A world free of wildlife trafficking and human slavery
www.freeland.org