CITES' Secretary General (SG) Ivonne Higuero Must Respond to Allegations of Partiality Prior to Vote @ CoP18 - SIGN and SHARE
Earlier this year and prior to CITES' CoP18 in Geneva, the Zimbabwe Elephant Foundation (ZEF) captured the following video footage featuring CITES' SG Ivonne Higuero openly discussing the trade and transport of wild caught African elephants to locales outside their "natural" range; i.e. outside the African Continent and in support of commercial interests.
VIDEO CLIP FEATURING CITES' SG, Ivonne Higuero: https://vimeo.com/362876015
Please listen to this clip? In the clip, the secretary implies her support for wild capture and trade, openly and with no hesitation whatsoever. Also note, importantly, the "interview" occurred prior to CITES' CoP18. This is significant, in that the SG of CITES is expected to be impartial, at least nominally and specifically, immediately prior to a Conference of the Parties (COP), during which wild capture and trade was hotly debated and voted on.
We ask our friends to consider the following and then SIGN and SHARE the petition:
1) While there is no requirement on behalf of impartiality, the CITES SG is *expected* to be impartial - at least nominally and specifically, immediately preceding a significant COP.
2) The SG appears not to comprehend the ethical implications of wild capture and trade on behalf of commerce. Should we explain?
The petition and its signatories will be handed to the CITES secretariat, demanding an investigation and a corresponding response.
Note that CoP18 voted unanimously to impose a near total-ban on sending wild African elephants to zoos. See: https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2019/aug/27/near-total-ban-imposed-on-sending-wild-african-elephants-to-zoos
From the Zimbabwe Elephant Foundation: "Higuero, new in her position as Secretary-General for the Convention on the Trade in Endangered Species (CITES), dropped the established protocol of her office to endorse a controversial trade in the sale of live elephants from Africa. Her endorsement was seen as an attempt to influence decisions that, for the past year and half, had been extensively debated in a Working Group of the CITES Animals Committee. The Working Group comprising CITES Party delegates, members of zoo associations, legal advisors and NGOs, had been attempting to control the largely unregulated trade in live elephants, that has witnessed over 100 young elephants sent from Zimbabwe to Chinese and other zoos, that could not suitably house and care for them.
Sources:
https://africanelephantjournal.com/new-cites-secretary-general-ditches-impartiality-to-endorse-trade-in-live-elephants-from-africa-to-foreign-zoos/
#ZimWildTrade #ZimbabweElephants #CITES #GMFER
