Greenpeace today expressed no surprise at the admission by a senior official of the Fisheries Agency of Japan, Maseyuku Komatsu, that Japan has been using overseas aid to secure support for its campaign to have the current international ban on whaling lifted.
The admission comes just a week before the start of the International Whaling Commission (IWC) conference in London (1). IWC countries already recruited by Japan through vote buying include six East Caribbean states, (Antigua and Barbuda, Dominica, Grenada, St Lucia, St Vincent and the Grenadines, St Kitts and Nevis), and Guinea. Panama and Morocco have joined the IWC this year and are also expected to vote alongside Japan.Richard Page, Greenpeace International Whaling Campaigner said:
"Japan is effectively buying its way back to large scale commercial whaling and destroying the integrity of the IWC along the way".
He continued,
"IWC member states must make clear to the government of Japan that this is an abuse of their economic power and a threat to the very fabric of international governance".
Mr Komatsu's comments directly contradict statements made by representatives of the Japanese whaling industry who have repeatedly rejected accusations of vote buying made by Greenpeace (2).
The statement came as Mr. Jiro Hyugaji, Officer of the Whale section of Japanese Far Seas Fisheries division rejected a call by Greenpeace to guarantee aid to countries regardless of how they vote at the forthcoming IWC (3).
In an interview with Australia's ABC TV, Mr Komatsu stated that the saw nothing wrong in buying votes. He admitted that a number of countries have accepted aid in return for backing Japan's efforts to get commercial whaling restarted and described aid as 'a major tool'. Mr Komatsu also referred to minke whales, which Japan is allowed to catch under a clause within the IWC that allows 'scientific research' whaling as "cockroaches of the oceans" (4).
Last weekend, the Prime Minister of Antigua and Barbuda, Lester Bird, admitted in an interview with the Caribbean news agency 'CANA' that his administration was supporting whaling because of aid received from Japan. In the interview he said,
"Quite frankly I make no bones about it...if we are able to support the Japanese, and the quid pro quo is that they are going to give us some assistance, I am not going to be a hypocrite; that is part of why we do so".
Dominica's Environment Minister, Atherton Martin, resigned last year in protest against his country being bribed by Japan to vote against moves to establish a South Pacific whale sanctuary at the IWC. He will be attending this year's whaling commission meeting to highlight the problem of vote buying and to outline the opportunities that whale watching offers countries in the Caribbean and South Pacific.
Notes to editors:
(1) The IWC meeting will take place on 23-27 July at the Novotel, Hammersmith, London.
(2) Visit the Japanese Whaling Association website.
(3) Greenpeace Japan wrote to the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries on 29 July requesting that they guarantee in writing to all IWC member states that their fisheries and development aid programmes have nothing to do with votes in the IWC meeting (copies of letter available from Greenpeace UK). Greenpeace Japan received an oral response over the phone from Mr. Jiro Hyugaji, officer of the Whale section of Far Seas Fisheries division yesterday (17 July). He said that Japan will not be taking any actions to make such guarantees. He also refused to confirm this in writing to Greenpeace.
(4) Mr Komatsu made the admissions in an interview with both the newswire AAP, ABC radio and ABC TV.
(5) Six Caribbean countries voted with Japan last year on virtually every motion at the International Whaling Commission (IWC), including rejecting an Australian move to create a whale sanctuary in the South Pacific. Greenpeace believes that Panama and Morocco, who are joining the IWC this year, despite having no involvement in whaling or whale conservation have also had their votes 'bought' by Japan.
Further information:
Contact:
Greenpeace press office on 020 7865 8255/8115
