Mozambique: Supreme Court Seeks Strategies for Fight Against Poaching

22 August 2022
Agencia de Informacao de Mocambique (Maputo)

The President of the Mozambican Supreme Court (TS), Adelino Muchanga, has expressed his concern about the persistence of poaching in the country. According to Muchanga, speaking on 18 August in Maputo at the launch of the Manual for Training and Supporting Magistrates in Matters of Combating Wildlife Crime, the numbers are worrying because the poachers have been changing their areas of operation, target species, and modus operandi.

According to Muchanga, hunting today is no longer for survival, but for profit, a fact that puts strong pressure on nature.

"Associated with wildlife crime are, of course, other related crimes, such as terrorism, corruption, money laundering, and arms and drug trafficking", he explained. Thus, the new training manual will help to raise the legal-environmental awareness of magistrates and facilitate the prosecution of wildlife cases.

"We understand that it is fundamental that judges be endowed with specialised knowledge and skills in the matter of wildlife crime and this training enables him to act effectively and efficiently," Muchanga said.

With a total of 86 pages, the manual addresses methodologies on how to train judicial magistrates in matters relating to the fight against wildlife crime.

For her part, the Minister of Justice, Helena Kida, said that the manual contributes to the understanding of the phenomenon, prevention of related offences, and accountability of offenders. Kida pledged to strengthen the legal and policy framework of enforcement to combat wildlife crime locally, regionally, and globally.

"We still witness the death of countless animals every year as a result of human intervention, accidental or intentional, through pollution, habitat modification or destruction, and climate change", she said. "These factors individually or in combination are leading to ecological imbalance and even the extinction of some species".

The Minister hoped that the manual will bring proposals for pragmatic and sustainable solutions aimed at improving the interpretation of crimes against wildlife.

Read the original article on AIM.

Tagged:
Copyright © 2022 Agencia de Informacao de Mocambique. All rights reserved. Distributed by AllAfrica Global Media (allAfrica.com). To contact the copyright holder directly for corrections — or for permission to republish or make other authorized use of this material, click here.

AllAfrica publishes around 400 reports a day from more than 100 news organizations and over 500 other institutions and individuals, representing a diversity of positions on every topic. We publish news and views ranging from vigorous opponents of governments to government publications and spokespersons. Publishers named above each report are responsible for their own content, which AllAfrica does not have the legal right to edit or correct.

Articles and commentaries that identify allAfrica.com as the publisher are produced or commissioned by AllAfrica. To address comments or complaints, please Contact us.