Reported by the The Guardian: The International Court of Justice has ordered a temporary halt to Japan’s annual slaughter of whales in the southern ocean after concluding that the hunts are not, as Japan claims, conducted for scientific research. The UN court’s decision, by a 12-4 majority among a panel of judges, casts serious doubt over the long-term future of the jewel in the crown of Japan’s controversial whaling programme.
It also marks a dramatic victory for the Australian government, whose four-year campaign to ban the hunts rested on whether it could convince the court that Japan was using scientific research as a cover for commercial whaling.
In its 2010 application to the court, Australia accused Japan of failing to “observe in good faith the zero catch limit in relation to the killing of whales”.
Under the International Whaling Commission’s 1986 ban on commercial whaling, Japan was permitted to kill a certain number of whales every year for what it called scientific research.
The sale of meat from the hunts in restaurants and supermarkets, while not illegal, prompted accusations from Australia and other anti-whaling nations that Japan was cloaking a commercial operation “in the lab coat of science”.
In a lengthy ruling, the presiding judge in the Hague, Peter Tomka, said Japan had failed to prove that its pursuit of hundreds of mainly minke whales in Antarctic waters every winter – under a programme known as Jarpa II – was for scientific purposes.
“The evidence does not establish that the programme’s design and implementation are reasonable in relation to achieving its stated objectives,” Tomka said.
“The court concludes that the special permits granted by Japan for the killing, taking and treating of whales in connection with Jarpa II are not for purposes of scientific research,” he added, before ordering Japan to cease its whaling programme “with immediate effect”.
Noriyuki Shikata, a spokesman for the Japanese delegation to the ICJ, said Japan was “disappointed” by the court’s decision but would abide by it “as a state that places great importance on the international legal order and the rule of law as a basis of the international
community.”
“In terms of a future course of action, people in Tokyo will examine that, but we have made our position clear – that we will abide by the
judgement,” Shikata told the Guardian.
He said the ruling would not affect bilateral ties with Australia.
“Japan and Australia are close economic and strategic partners with shared values and interests,” he said. “We enjoy mature bilateral
relations in many areas, so now it is important to ensure that our differences over whaling do not affect very good Japan-Australia relations as a whole.”
Shikata said he did not interpret today’s verdict as an attack on Japan’s culture. “We made references to cultural differences and dietary
traditions, but this case was about the legality of the programme under the whaling convention,” he said. “The court ruling referred, for example, to a lack of scientific basis for sample sizes … it wasn’t about cultural differences.”
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