JAPAN has told the UN’s top court that Australia’s anti-whaling stance is part of a ‘civilising mission and moral crusade’ that is totally out of place in the modern world.
That’s according to Sky News, and I couldn’t agree more. The article continues…
Tokyo didn’t hold back in its opening submission to the 16 judges of the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in The Hague on Tuesday…
‘In a world with diverse civilisations and traditions, international law cannot become an instrument for imposing the cultural preference of some at the expense of others.’
The deputy foreign minister argued Japan had long lived in harmony with nature and it would be the last country to misuse marine resources.
‘Australia can’t impose its will on other nations nor change the International Whaling Commission (IWC) into an organisation opposed to whaling,’ he said.
Tokyo argues killing 850 minke whales in the Southern Ocean each year under JARPA won’t endanger stocks.
Professor Akhavan on Tuesday said Japan stood unfairly accused of 30 years of defiance and deception, but Australia’s position was based on a belief ‘that whales are unique, sacred, charismatic mammals that should never be killed’.
Indeed, the International Whaling Commission (IWC) was established in 1948 at the initiative of the United States to establish a new world order in whaling. Initially 15 governments were party to the IWC with Japan at the time under occupation and without the right to join.
The Commission’s objectives included safeguarding the great natural resources represented by whale stocks and providing for the “orderly development of the whaling industry” recognising that whale stocks will increase if whaling is properly regulated.
But by the 1960s an anti-whaling movement had emerged in the West and the IWC focus started to change. In 1972, at the United Nations Human Environmental Conference held in Stockholm, the United States lobbied for a moratorium on commercial whaling; a moratorium that came into effect ten years later.
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Jennifer Marohasy BSc PhD has worked in industry and government. She is currently researching a novel technique for long-range weather forecasting funded by the B. Macfie Family Foundation.