Disappointed and angered that diplomatic efforts so far have failed, the Australian government plans to seek international legal action to end once and for all Japan’s annual whaling hunt — a decision that has to do with public outcry in Australia and elsewhere as well as a campaign promise made in 2007 by Prime Minister Kevin Rudd:
Japan’s whaling programme faces a potentially decisive legal challenge next week, after Australia said today it would turn to the international court of justice to end Tokyo’s annual whale culls in the Southern Ocean.
Australia’s environment minister, Peter Garrett, said the decision proved his country’s commitment to “bring to an end Japan’s programme of so-called scientific whaling”.
Japan kills just under 1,000 mainly minke whales in the Antarctic every year, using a provision in the 1986 moratorium on commercial whaling that allows it to conduct “lethal research” into the mammals. The meat from the hunts is sold in restaurants and supermarkets.
The Australian prime minister, Kevin Rudd, has come under pressure to honour a 2007 election pledge to ban whaling in an area the country considers a whale sanctuary. Japan does not recognise the sanctuary and insists its whaling fleet operates in international waters.
Rudd’s critics had accused him of reneging on his promise for fear of angering Japan, which is Australia’s second biggest export market.
The Australian foreign minister, Stephen Smith, said the International Whaling Commission’s failure to find a diplomatic solution had left the government with no choice.
“The Australian government has not taken this decision lightly,” he said. But recent statements by whaling countries in the commission have provided Australia with little cause for hope that our serious commitment to conservation of the world’s whales will be reflected in any potential IWC compromise agreement.”
Japan’s government has stressed that it remains friends with the government of Australia — but this issue is a long simmering one. And Japan’s answer? It’s legal:
Japan rebuffed a threat by Australia to take Tokyo to court over its whaling in the Antarctic, saying on Friday that the annual hunts were permitted under international law and accusing the Australian government of exploiting the issue for political gain.
….The legal action against its major trading partner underlines the Australian government’s “commitment to bring to an end Japan’s program of so-called scientific whaling” in the southern waters, Environment Minister Peter Garrett and Attorney General Robert McClelland said in a joint statement.
“We want to see an end to whales being killed in the name of science in the Southern Ocean,” Mr. Garrett said.
But Agriculture Minister Hirotaka Akamatsu said Tokyo was unfazed.
“Scientific whaling is recognized” under international law, he told a group of reporters in Tokyo, referring to the International Convention for the Regulation of Whaling, which authorizes the use of special permits to kill whales for scientific purposes.
The International Whaling Commission, which currently has 88 nations as members, banned commercial whaling in 1986, although some native and aboriginal groups are permitted to hunt whales for food. Norway and Iceland have since objected to the moratorium and continue to hunt whales.
International law also allows whaling for scientific purposes, and Japan uses this codicil to license its deep-water whalers.
“The Japanese have seized on that loophole and stretched it beyond all recognition,” said Steve Shallhorn, head of Greenpeace Australia Pacific.
Tensions have risen among activists and Japanese whalers, too:
A Japanese whaler who was struck in the face with a rancid substance during clashes in the Antarctic has called for “severe punishment” for the New Zealand activist who allegedly threw it.
Takashi Kominami, 24, said he suffered facial chemical burns from the butyric acid allegedly thrown by Peter Bethune, a member of the US-based Sea Shepherd Conservation Society, a self-confessed band of ‘environmental pirates’.
“I’m angry,” Mr Kominami told the Tokyo District Court, where Mr Bethune faces five charges and up to 15 years in jail if found guilty. “I think he doesn’t feel remorse at all. I call for severe punishment so that he feels remorse.”
Mr Bethune, 44, faces charges of trespass, destruction of property, obstruction of business, assault causing injury and violating Japan’s weapons control law after boarding the Japanese whaling ship, the Shonan Maru II, in February.
He pleaded guilty yesterday to trespassing and other charges, but denied injuring Mr Kominami with acid.
But New Zealand — a country Australians love — is not going to join Australia in the legal action:
New Zealand Prime Minister John Key told reporters that New Zealand would stick to a “diplomatic route” with Japan over the issue.
“The legal opinion we’ve had is that court action may or may not be successful, but it’s certainly far from a sure bet,” Mr Key said on Friday.
“The reason we’ve gone down a diplomatic solution is not because we’re afraid of a court case but because the advice we’ve had is that it’s more likely to be successful.
“In the end, if that diplomatic route is unsuccessful then New Zealand will make a decision about whether it’s going to join Australia in the international court of justice.
“It doesn’t mean we wouldn’t join Australia if the diplomatic solution has been extinguished.”
Mr Key said the court process could take years and would be a risky move.
“If they go to court and they lose there are real risks here so that is the whole point,” he said.
“That’s why if we find a diplomatic solution it might be a lot better than a court case that we could lose.
“If we thought a court case was clear-cut and easy to win then obviously that might be the fastest way to do that.”
Expect this ongoing issue to go on for a long time — particularly if Japan feels it has solid legal permission to have the whale hunts continue.
Joe Gandelman is a former fulltime journalist who freelanced in India, Spain, Bangladesh and Cypress writing for publications such as the Christian Science Monitor and Newsweek. He also did radio reports from Madrid for NPR’s All Things Considered. He has worked on two U.S. newspapers and quit the news biz in 1990 to go into entertainment. He also has written for The Week and several online publications, did a column for Cagle Cartoons Syndicate and has appeared on CNN.