On 16 and 17 April 2019 the Consulting Group of the SPIDER WEB project, consisting of representatives of national law enforcement authorities of the 6 targeted countries in the Western Balkan, held a successful meeting in Ljubljana, Slovenia. In addition, representatives of the Regional Cooperation Council (RCC), the European Union Forum of Judges for the Environment (EUFJE) and the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) took part as well. The adopted approach of the SPIDER WEB project was endorsed and the preliminary results of the baseline study as well as the planned trainings focusing on Nature and Waste Crime in the 6 countries were acknowledged.
Nancy Isarin, IMPEL project manager, was pleased with the support received for the project by the Consultation Group.
The Consultation Group had open discussions about ongoing activities in the region or the countries and how they could possibly be aligned with the SPIDER WEB activities. Also the expectations of the project were shared, which include:
- Use the training to further identify specific needs
- Focus on the environmental crime aspect and less on the administrative part
- Demonstrate concrete cases and results
- Design tools to motivate prosecutors and judges to understand the importance of prosecuting environmental crimes.
During the meeting it became clear that the SPIDER WEB project fills a gap when it comes to providing tailored practical training on detecting and prosecuting environmental crimes. Many consider this project as first step to identify in-depth the practical challenges met by law enforcement to disrupt illegal behaviour and likely follow-up actions would be required.
Next activities will be the development and delivery of the 6 national trainings which are scheduled in the next few months.
EU Green Week
The Consultation Group Meeting for the SPIDERWEB project was accepted by the European Commission – DG Environment as a Green Week 2019 Partner Event. This year’s #EUGreenWeek encourages initiatives to work together to better implement environmental legislation. The quality of life, well-being but also the economy will benefit from it. For more information, go to: https://www.eugreenweek.eu
Project background
SPIDER WEB stands for Strategic Project to Increase the Detection and Disruption of Environmental Crime in the Western Balkans. The countries included are Albania, Bosnia and Hercegovina, Republic of North Macedonia, Kosovo*, Montenegro and Serbia.
SPIDER WEB aims to increase awareness and skill set of all actors in the enforcement chain to prevent, detect and prosecute wildlife and waste crime. SPIDER WEB is jointly financed by the European Union and the Federal Republic of Germany on the basis of a grant agreement with the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GmbH) within the IPA/2017 Countering Serious Crime in the Western Balkans Project. SPIDER WEB will be co-ordinated and implemented by IMPEL.
For more information see the SPIDER WEB project page