Conference “The Sea, the world’s largest crime scene: The case of environmental crime”

An international conference on “the sea, the world’s largest crime scene

This conference is organized by La Rochelle Université and the European Network of Prosecutors for the Environment (ENPE). The event is by registration only until 19 April (limited number of places – French-English interpretation).

Subject : “The sea is the largest crime scene in the world, a somehow invisible crime scene. It is a vulnerable environment in which many illicit and illegal activities thrive. It is especially an environment conducive to environmental crime. Threats to the marine environment and its resources, marine pollution, waste trafficking, illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing, wildlife trafficking, etc., are serious and yet common daily harms throughout the world. Whether confined to the territory of a State or transnational, environmental crime has in common that it concerns exhaustible and limited resources whose integrity, especially at sea, is already threatened by human activities.

Transnational environmental crime at sea is no different from traditional organized crime. It poses a serious and growing threat to development, stability, human security, and the integrity of the environment already under stress from global change. The same routes/flows, including maritime and financial, as those used for human, arms or drug trafficking are used for the smuggling of environmentally sensitive goods. If modern monitoring and surveillance means, in particular naval, air and satellite, have contributed to guarantee more security and safety, the exponential development of maritime activities, in particular maritime transport, have contributed to complexify the fight against maritime environmental crime.”

The purpose of this international symposium is to give the floor to experts, practitioners and academics, about the legal, judicial and operational issues encountered in the fight against environmental crime. These experts will discuss ways to crystallize and improve national criminal laws and operational means in the maritime field.

The conference programme

In the opening afternoon of the conference, the participants will be presented the crime scene that is the sea, in its spatial, geopolitical and jurisdictional dimensions at the international level.

During the first two sessions, the speakers will share their experiences by presenting concrete cases of the fight against environmental damage and organized crime at sea, following the process of manifestation of the reprehensible facts and the main steps of the criminal procedure.

In the third session, the participants will discuss ways to develop a strategy of cooperation and coordination of the fight against environmental crime in the light of the proposed new European directive on environmental crime and the phenomenon of criminalization of environmental offenses at sea.

Session 1 : THE PREVENTION OF AND FIGHT AGAINST ENVIRONMENTAL CRIME AT SEA

• Round table 1— Waste and pollution crimes
• Round table 2 — Wildlife crimes

Session 2 : THE DETERRENCE OF MARITIME ENVIRONMENTAL CRIME

• Round Table 3— The impediments to the investigation and prosecution of environmental crimes/at sea
• Round table 4— The sea, a ‘hot-bed’ of organized environmental crime?

Session 3: STRATEGY SESSION

To consult the full programme.

Organisors

Partners and sponsoring leading societies