Australia wins whaling case against Japan in The Hague 2 HOURS AGO APRIL 01, 2014 10:05AM 18 After four years of international legal battles and bitter confrontations in the Southern ocean, the International Court of Justice has ordered Japan to cease its whaling program. AUSTRALIA has won an international lawsuit against Japan’s whaling program in the Southern Ocean, but Tokyo appears set to continue with its hunt in the North Pacific. The International Court of Justice has backed Australia’s landmark case and demanded Japan stop its whaling program in the Antarctic “with immediate effect”. But the country’s hunt in the North Pacific wasn’t part of the case, meaning it will be allowed to continue. And Nori Shikata, a spokesman for the Japanese Delegation at The Hague, has suggested it will. Australia wins UN whaling case 1:07 Play video The UNs top court has ruled that Japans whaling hunt in the Southern Ocean is not a scientific program. “Our program in the Northern Pacific is outside the scope of the proceedings before the courts and so they are two separate programs and this ruling is about the program in the Antarctic,” Mr Shikata told ABC Radio. “What we have been saying today is that as far as the judgement of the court is concerned we will abide by it.” Horrific ... dead minke whales lie on the deck of the Japanese whaling vessel Nisshin Maru in the Southern Ocean. Source: AP “I don’t think Australia brought the case regarding our research whaling in the Northern Pacific.” UN ruling ... Japan’s whaling hunt in the Southern Ocean is not a scientific program. Mr Shikata said the country was “deeply disappointed and regrets” the verdict and will look into the “lengthy” ruling. “As far as our future course of action is concerned we have to examine the judgement very carefully,” he added. Captain Alex Cornelissen, Executive Director of Sea Shepherd Global, talked up the victory in the Southern Ocean, but said the organisation will have to keep up its anti-whaling campaigns in other regions. “It certainly looks like there won’t be any more killing of whales in the Southern Ocean whale sanctuary,” he told Channel Nine this morning. The kill ... fishermen break up the body of a whale at the Wada port in Chiba prefecture, east of Tokyo, while school pupils look on. Source: AFP “We still have to wait and see what Japan is going to do with the other whale hunts they still continue to do, for instance the Northern hunt in the Pacific every July and August.” “We don’t know what’s going to happen there, but this is certainly a very important breakthrough.” Shadow Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus, who represented Australia at The Hague, said the implications of the case on whaling in other regions would have to be “worked through”. “The case that we brought was very much about the Southern Ocean and I don’t want to comment on what implications there might be for the Japanese whaling activities in the Northern Pacific,” Mr Dreyfus told ABC TV. “But clearly that is a matter of concern to people throughout the world as well.” Mr Dreyfus called on Japan to work with Australia on non-lethal research. “I’m hoping that Japan, which has a fine tradition of scientific research, will join in that non-lethal research in the Southern Ocean and not return to any killing of whales in the name of science,” he said. For sale ... a shopper walks past a whale meat specialty store in Tokyos Ameyoko shopping district. Source: AP Mr Dreyfus said he was confident Japan would abide by the judgement and he believed the decision would up the pressure on Iceland and Norway as well. International Court of Justice presiding judge Peter Tomka of Slovakia said Japan had not justified the large number of minke whales it takes under its program, while failing to meet much smaller targets for fin and humpback whales. Not done ... Labor’s Mark Dreyfus, who represented Australia at The Hague, said the implications of the case on whaling in other regions will have to be “worked through”. Source: News Corp Australia The United Nations ordered a halt to the issuing of whaling permits until the program has been revamped. The ICJ, by 12 votes to four, said Japan had not acted in compliance with its obligations under the international whaling convention. Four years ago, former environment minister Peter Garrett helped launch legal action against Japan in the International Court of Justice to try and put a stop to its controversial Antarctic whaling program. It was the first time any country had used an international court to try to stop whaling. Mr Garrett said he felt vindicated by the decision Labor made in 2010 to pursue the case against so-called “scientific whaling’’ in The Hague.
Posted on: Tue, 01 Apr 2014 00:39:46 +0000
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