The International Court of Justice has ordered a temporary halt to
Japan’s annual slaughter of whales in the southern ocean after
concluding that the hunts are not, as Japan claims, conducted for
scientific research.
The UN court’s decision, by a 12-4 majority among a panel of judges,
casts serious doubt over the long-term future of the jewel in the
crown of Japan’s controversial whaling programme.
It also marks a dramatic victory for the Australian government, whose
four-year campaign to ban the hunts rested on whether it could
convince the court that Japan was using scientific research as a cover
for commercial whaling.
In its 2010 application to the court, Australia accused Japan of
failing to “observe in good faith the zero catch limit in relation to
the killing of whales”.
Under the International Whaling Commission’s 1986 ban on commercial
whaling, Japan was permitted to kill a certain number of whales every
year for what it called scientific research, Guardian informs.
