Peruvian Judiciary President Holds Workshop on Environmental Crimes

September 20, 2023

From August 24th – 26th, our Peruvian sister organization Conservación Amazónica – ACCA brought together professionals with experience in administrative, constitutional, environmental, forestry, and criminal law to hold the theoretical-practical workshop on “Strengthening for Environmental Judges of the Amazonian Environmental Justice System.” This presentational workshop was co-organized with the National Commission for Environmental Management – Judiciary and with the support of the Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation – Norad and Norway’s International Climate and Forest Initiative – NICFI.

This workshop was aimed at helping environmental judges in Amazonian regions homogenize their knowledge of criminal and administrative law within the environmental forestry branch and in the management of technological tools to strengthen the justice system when it comes to tackling crimes against natural resources. The president of the National Commission for Environmental Management of the Judiciary (PJ), Supreme Judge Iris Pacheco Huancas, warned that Amazon is facing serious issues from organized crime, which requires a strong, and properly trained justice system to be handled.

Judges from the superior courts of Madre de Dios, Ucayali, Loreto, and Lima participated in the commencement of the workshop where they highlighted leading threats by environmental crimes such as illegal mining, forestry crimes, and various related crimes such as money laundering, human trafficking, tax fraud and others. For these reasons, Justice Huancas noted that current times pose new challenges to judges, and by providing knowledge and understanding, these judges can effectively apply the corresponding tools and regulations, thus guaranteeing the protection of the legitimate rights and interests of society and the environment.