Celebrating two decades of success fighting wildlife crime across Europe
Cooperation, collaboration and communication are key in fighting the global crisis of illegal wildlife crime. Law-enforcement officials need to be better networked than the organised criminal gangs who drive this illegal criminal activity. To help them do just this, 20 years ago the Belgian government worked with TRAFFIC to set up an international crime-fighting alliance to help Europe rise to the challenge.
A powerful information-sharing alliance which has helped arrest and prosecute multiple wildlife traffickers across Europe is marking 20 years of successful crime-fighting.
EU-TWIX (standing for Europe – Trade in Wildlife Information eXchange) was established on October 1st 2005 to help European law enforcement teams stay one step ahead of international criminal networks trying to smuggle lucrative protected species across borders.
Illegal wildlife trade is one of the most pressing issues of our time. It drives species to extinction, deepens poverty through depriving local communities of livelihoods, destroys ecosystems that would mitigate climate change, and spreads disease that can pass to humans.
Europe is a major hub for global trafficking of wild species. The number of seizure records since the database was established 20 years ago now exceeds 100,000 – providing critical insight for law-enforcement teams on trafficking trends and what to look out for.
EU-TWIX is a key mechanism for fighting crime, ensuring cooperation, trust and expertise is shared between law enforcement agencies across the continent.
Established in 2005 by the Belgian Federal Police, CITES Management Authority, Customs, and TRAFFIC, it connects more than 1,500 officials from 39 European countries.
EU-TWIX aids information-sharing and networking between European wildlife management and law enforcement officials in real time, via a mailing list and restricted website. Just as importantly, it helps build trusted relationships within which expertise and advice can be sought.
It has triggered numerous seizures and investigations to date, including the seizure of around 240,000 glass eels smuggled in suitcases, found by customs at Zurich and Geneva airports.
Glass eels in a suitcase @Swiss Customs
In this case, Swiss Customs had become aware of eel smuggling techniques thanks to images shared via the EU-TWIX mailing list. Follow-up investigations took place in Switzerland and Germany, leading to six arrests in total.
This case took us by surprise; Switzerland was never used before to smuggle eels. The EU-TWIX network provided materials, information, and great support allowing us to act in an efficient and successful way.”
Swiss authorities
It contributes directly to the EU Action Plan against Wildlife Trafficking, via improved enforcement and international collaboration. EU-TWIX is a testament to what long-term vision and collective action can achieve in the fight against wildlife crime. Twenty years after its creation as a Belgian initiative, EU-TWIX has become an indispensable tool in the daily work of enforcement authorities across the EU and beyond.
Belgian CITES Management Authority
EU-TWIX is important for many reasons: it provides us with an understanding of trends in illegal wildlife trade, brings awareness to new modus operandi, expands knowledge about species identification, and creates a strong network of officials concerned with the implementation and enforcement of CITES. Information shared by users through the EU-TWIX mailing list and the CITES alerts provide information about irregularities encountered in other Member States and these, in turn, support our risk assessment process and sometimes even trigger investigations.”
Dutch CITES Enforcement Authorities Since its inception, EU-TWIX has inspired several similar systems worldwide, such as the World Customs Organization’s (WCO) communication system ENVIRONET, and the four ‘TWIXes’ in Africa South, Central, East and West African regions.
Anastasiya Timoshyna, TRAFFIC Europe Director, said: “In the fight against the well-oiled machine of organised global crime, communications and cooperation between law-enforcement agencies across multiple countries is priceless, but often challenging to deliver.
“EU-TWIX has indeed delivered this. Over the last 20 years, thanks to the generous support of funders as well as all the users, TWIX has grown into a highly valuable alliance of people determined to put an end to the scourge of illegal wildlife trade.”
In the fight against the well-oiled machine of organised global crime, communications and cooperation between law-enforcement agencies is priceless, but often challenging to deliver. EU-TWIX has indeed delivered this. Over the last 20 years, thanks to the generous support of funders as well as all the users, TWIX has grown into a highly valuable alliance of people determined to put an end to the scourge of illegal wildlife trade.”
Anastasiya Timoshyna, TRAFFIC Europe Director
To celebrate the 20th anniversary of EU-TWIX, TRAFFIC is establishing an EU-TWIX Champions Circle to build on the success so far and take the alliance to the next level. Our committed and generous EU-TWIX Champions are: the Governments of Belgium, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Finland, Latvia, The Netherlands, Poland, Slovakia, Spain, Switzerland and the United Kingdom, and the European Commission (DG Environment).
Factfile:
EU-TWIX connects more than 1,500 officials from 39 European countries
It was established in 2005 as a joint initiative between the Belgian Federal Police, CITES Management Authority, Customs, and TRAFFIC
The EU-TWIX database, which is only accessible to registered users, currently holds more than 100 000 seizures records
It allows for monitoring trade trends at the national and regional levels
Dutch authorities have used EU-TWIX data to inform their CITES priority setting and multi-year intervention strategy, taking into account new taxa, routes and modus operandi
EU-TWIX data are analysed annually by TRAFFIC and results are presented to the EU Wildlife Enforcement Group
An abridged version of the analysis is publicly (latest analysis EU remains major hub for global trafficking of wild species, latest data shows - Wildlife Trade Report from TRAFFIC) available to help relevant stakeholders prioritise interventions against wildlife trafficking in the EU
EU-TWIX supports European agencies with implementation of various regional and international legislations and strategies, such as the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES), the EU Wildlife Trade Regulations (EUWTR), the EU Action Plan against Wildlife Trafficking (WAP), the European Multidisciplinary Platform Against Criminal Threats (EMPACT) and the EU Environmental Crime Directive (ECD).
