New Zealand Set to Defend Whales at World Court

(The Hague, Netherlands - 8 July 2013) - Now into its third and final week, the International Court of Justice hearing of the case against Japanese whaling in the Antarctic is set to hear New Zealand's intervention.

It is a move that is welcomed and supported by the International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW) which believes the sham of so-called scientific whaling will be exposed for all to see.

New Zealand's intervention in the case, which was approved by the Court in February 2013, comes after a series of controversial diplomatic initiatives failed to find a permanent way to end whaling in the Southern Ocean.

Tomorrow (Tuesday), the Court will hear New Zealand's argument that a Special Permit issued under The International Convention for the Regulation of Whaling is legal only if: the permit is issued "for purposes of scientific research"; the number of whales to be killed is the lowest necessary, proportionate, and does not have an adverse effect on whale stocks; and the views of other parties to the Convention have been considered and taken into account before the Special Permit is issued.

In making its intervention, the New Zealand government contends that the Japanese 'scientific' programme in the Antarctic does not meet these criteria and is therefore illegal. This view is shared by the independent panels of international legal experts IFAW convened to review Japan's scientific whaling programme who found it 'unlawful' under international law* and IFAW trusts that the International Court of Justice hearing will take a similar view.

IFAW believes Japan's scientific whaling is merely commercial whaling by another name. Patrick Ramage, Director of IFAW's Global Whale Programme, said: "In the court of public opinion, the verdict is already in. Commercial whaling, whether conducted openly or under the guise of science is a cruel and outdated practice which produces no science of value. Japanese taxpayers are being forced to subsidise an industry that is dying in the water and the marketplace in the 21st Century. We are glad that this issue is being thoroughly examined by the World Court.

"While we look forward to the judgment from the International Court of Justice in the coming months, we urge Japan to call an end to its Antarctic whaling now, and avoid further embarrassment and damage to its international reputation."

The Court's decision will be important not only for whales in the Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary, but for future compliance with all multilateral environmental agreements.**

Since the global moratorium on commercial whaling was introduced in 1986, Japan has killed more than 14,000 whales in the name of science, the vast majority of these in the Southern Ocean.

Scientific analysis of footage of Japanese whaling in the Southern Ocean has shown whales taking more than half an hour to die. IFAW works in whaling countries to promote whale watching as a humane and sustainable alternative that is better for whales and for coastal communities.

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