7 - CITES in Spain: Blueprints and Challenges of Spanish Practice on CITES and Welfare of Trafficked Victims

Summary

Introduction

Almost 50 years after its adoption, the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES hereinafter) is much more than a treaty on wildlife trade. In 1973, the priority objective of its States Parties was not the protection of biodiversity, but 50 years later it is, as they have stated in their Strategic Vision 2021– 30 (COP18 2019; COP19 2022). As its former Secretary General, John Scanlon, said: ‘CITES is both a trade and a conservation convention that uses traderelated measures to achieve its conservation objectives. It is also the first, and possibly remains the only, global legal instrument to directly address animal welfare, albeit in relation to a limited number of issues’ (2015). He also remarked that

to date, States have considered that most animal welfare issues should be addressed through domestic law rather than international law and there is currently no global treaty governing either animal welfare or animal rights. It is perhaps partly for this reason that CITES often serves as a forum for the expression of a wide range of differing views on international trade in wild animals, including on particular trade transactions, whether all of the actions sought by various actors fall under the current mandate of CITES or not. (Scanlon 2015)

The project Criminal Justice, Wildlife Conservation and Animal Rights in the Anthropocene (CRIMEANTHROP project hereinafter) led by Professor Ragnhild A. Sollund is a groundbreaking example of academic research that opens a new debate on CITES. CRIMEANTHROP ‘explores the regulation, rationale behind and enforcement of wildlife conservation, the normative and socio-legal messages of this enforcement, and their implications for wildlife conservation and individual animal welfare’ (Sollund 2022). This chapter contributes to the debate led by Sollund with a reflection on the adaptability of this international treaty on trade to a vision constantly renewed at their Conferences of the Parties from 2000 up to now (COP hereinafter). It stands out that the CITES Vision Statement adopted by the COP16 urged States to ‘Conserve biodiversity and contribute to its sustainable use by ensuring that no species of wild fauna or flora is or remains subject to unsustainable exploitation through international trade, thereby contributing to a significant reduction in the rate of biodiversity loss’ (COP16, Bangkok 2013).