International Court of Justice orders Japan to stop Antarctic whaling
“Australians can all feel proud,” says former Greens leader Bob Brown of the International Court of Justice’s ruling to ban Japanese whaling. “It’s a whale of a win… Paul Watson is a hero.” (Sea Shepherd captain)
The Australian government, which in May 2010 launched the international legal challenge to Japan’s contention that they killed thousands of minke whales in the Antarctic for “scientific research”.
The former environment minister Peter Garrett, who launched the action, said this morning he was “overjoyed”. “This is a comprehensive and resounding decision in Australia’s favour,” he told the ABC.
“It means we won’t see harpoons in the Southern Ocean – we certainly shouldn’t see them down there any longer. “I’m absolutely over the moon for all those people who wanted to see the charade of scientific whaling cease once and for all. To have this ruling from the international court, which is absolutely clear and totally comprehensive, vindicates the decision that we took in taking Japan to the court.”
Shadow Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus, who was a key player in launching the legal action, said the win for Australia in The Hague was a “pioneering piece of litigation” as it was the first time an environmental treaty had been tested in the ICJ. “It’s going to pave the way for more environmental litigation I could expect between nations,” he told the ABC.
The ICJ’s ruling states that Japan must cease whaling immediately, revoking all existing permits. Japan says it will respect and comply with the court’s decision, which concluded that the whales used in alleged scientific research was not proportionate to the number of whales killed. Japan has cited the 1946 International Convention of Whaling which permits killing for research, to justify the hunting of up to 850 minke whales a year.
In 2010 when the Rudd government launched the action, the then opposition leader Tony Abbott said a Coalition government would not take Japan to the ICJ to stop whaling because it did not want to “needlessly antagonise our most important trading partner”. There are limits to what you can reasonably do, and taking war-like action against Japan is not something that a sensible Australian politician ought to recommend.” Up yours Tony.
Bob Brown previously said “down there each summer the Japanese whaling fleet arrives with grenade-tipped harpoons to slaughter, with obscene cruelty, the whales that make their winter migration up Australia’s coastlines to calve in warmer waters. Mothers are harpooned in front of their calves. Calves in front of their mothers. Death may take half an hour and the carcasses are hauled into the killers’ factory ship to be flensed and sent to Tokyo for sale in the fish markets.”
Today he said: “The International Court of Justice findings that Japan’s whaling is illegal vindicates a decade of courageous actions by Captain Paul Watson and his crews. All across Australia people will be celebrating this win due to Sea Shepherd and their huge public support for protecting whales in this country that led to the Australian Government to take this legal action. Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott should tell Japan, ‘Never cross the equator again with a whale harpoon gun’.” Tony Abbott travels to Japan for trade talks later this month.
The Green Pavilion with green buzz 