USAID updating Thailand Rapid Reference Guide for prosecutors and wildlife crime investigators

From 2018 to 2019, USAID Wildlife Asia worked with Thailand’s Office of the Attorney General (OAG) to jointly develop and launch Thailand’s Rapid Reference Guide (RRG), a tool aimed at assisting prosecutors and wildlife crime investigators build stronger court cases against wildlife criminals. The OAG adopted the RRG and has been enthusiastically “shopping it around” to other Thai agencies and offices including most recently to Thailand’s Office of National Security. USAID Wildlife Asia is teaming up with WWF Thailand and the OAG to develop an updated guide to be launched later this year. The updating process will involve broad consultation with Thai and U.S. authorities including Thai Customs as well as the U.S. Department of Justice and, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, to maximize the efficacy of the tool. So what? Since the RRG was released in March 2019, Thailand's Wildlife Conservation and Protection Act B.E.2562 (2019) was revised to include stricter provisions and penalties for wildlife crimes. Updating Thailand’s Rapid Reference Guide will allow prosecutors and wildlife crime investigators to build strong evidential cases in court that bring wildlife criminals to justice.