Diplomats linked to wildlife smuggling

Tony's comments ... I remain amazed at the reports on abuses of Diplomatic privilege. I ask myself the question what is so special about these people that they can get away with so much that is obviously wrong. In the very recent past diplomats involved in severe crime including rape have managed to escape using the "diplomatic immunity" excuse.

Live chimpanzees and ivory are only two of the illegal wildlife products that are being trafficked by officials travelling on diplomatic passports.

The New Scientist reports that Wendy Jackson from Lincoln University in New Zealand is gathering information on the role UN officials and diplomats play in the trafficking of endangered wildlife.

She recently revealed some of her findings to the Society for Conservation Biology, saying it was only a small part of the illegal wildlife trade, but was very hard to determine the true extent of the problem as people were reluctant to talk about the issue.

Last year a Ukrainian national, working as a UN peacekeeper, successfully took a live chimpanzee out of Sierra Leone claiming diplomatic immunity.

In 1999, Kenyan officials confiscated nearly 700kg of ivory from a person travelling on a North Korean diplomatic passport.

Cites (Convention on the International Trade in Endangered Species) says that North Korean officials are some of the worst offenders.