Vietnam, a major hub for rhino horn trafficking, is in the spotlight at an international meeting this week for not adequately combating the illegal trade of the iconic animal. The annual meeting of the Standing Committee of CITES, the global wildlife trade convention, is being held in Geneva from Feb. 3-8.
As a source country, transit point, and final destination for animal products, Vietnam is a central actor in the global fight against wildlife trafficking. But for years, the CITES Secretariat has reprimanded Vietnam for not doing enough to combat and dismantle criminal wildlife trade networks that poach and trade wildlife, a major threat to biodiversity and endangered species.
At the last CITES Conference of the Parties (COP) in late 2022, Vietnam was asked to strengthen enforcement measures, share evidence and DNA samples from its seized rhino horns with other parties, and improve legal frameworks.
In its most recent report submitted to the secretariat in November 2023, Vietnam listed 15 cases of rhino horns seized from 2022 to October 2023. Of these, seven mention Angola as the country of origin, while five don’t mention any country.
The report also declared there were no seizures in rhino horns originating from South Africa. “Therefore, no exchange of samples happened,” it said.
In a document dated Jan. 16, however, the CITES Secretariat expressed concern over incomplete information.
“The Secretariat indicated to Viet Nam that the majority of rhinoceros horns found in illegal trade originate from South Africa because it has the largest rhinoceros population in the world,” the document said, adding these horns are often exported from other African countries by criminal networks to avoid detection.
In its report, the CITES Secretariat said it “encouraged” Vietnam to share samples from its seizures with the South African Rhino DNA Indexing System (RhODIS), a database containing thousands of DNA profiles from rhinos across African rhino range countries.
“Ideally, everyone should be sharing samples of seized rhino horn with South Africa,” Jo Shaw from the NGO Save the Rhino told Mongabay via phone.
However, most rhino horns seized globally aren’t shared for forensic analyses with RhODIS, said Taylor Tench, a senior policy analyst at the Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA).
”Vietnam has shared rhino horn samples with South Africa a few times in recent years, but other countries have never done so,” he said.
Angola, for instance, “reported seizing 58 kg [128 pounds] of rhino horn from 2018 to 2024, but did not share any samples for forensic analysis,” Tench added. “The truth is, all countries that seize rhino horn need to be doing a better job at this.”
In response to questions from Mongabay, the CITES Secretariat said Vietnam’s situation is currently under review and it can’t comment further.
Banner image of critically endangered black rhinos in Khamab Kalahari Reserve, South Africa, by WildlifeConservationist via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0).
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