The U.S. Embassy and the Indonesian Attorney General’s Office jointly organized a Multi-lateral Wildlife Trafficking Workshop in Bogor running from May 6 – 8. The Workshop includes investigators and prosecutors from Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, and Vietnam. Sarah Sewall, Under Secretary of State for Civilian Security, Democracy, and Human Rights, and Basuni Masarif, Indonesian Deputy Attorney General for General Crimes, opened the Workshop. The Bogor Wildlife Trafficking Workshop allows investigators and prosecutors from participating countries to discuss policy, information sharing, and enforcement issues and to develop recommendations to improve their ability to combat wildlife trafficking. The workshop is part of the renewed commitment of the United States to support efforts to stop wildlife trafficking and protect endangered species in the United States and around the world. In July of last year President Obama signed an executive order that resulted in the release in February 2014 of the first U.S. National Strategy for Combating Wildlife Trafficking. Also in February, Indonesia and the United States signed a Memorandum of Understanding on Conserving Wildlife and Combating Wildlife Trafficking. The agreement facilitates joint efforts to protect wildlife and promote conservation, build public awareness, stabilize and increase populations of threatened and endangered species, strengthen law enforcement capacity, and combat illicit harvesting and trade in wildlife species in Indonesia.
