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| Greenpeace campaigners try to block whaling vessels from harpooning whales on Christmas da |
As the Japanese foreign minister, Mr. Yohei Kono arrives in London to discuss Japan - UK economic relations, Japan is continuing to hunt whales illegally in the protected Southern Ocean Sanctuary. Mr Kono is due to meet Foreign Secretary Robin Cook as part of a brief European tour.
Greenpeace's ship, the Arctic Sunrise, which has now been tracking Japan's illegal whaling activities for 23 days, witnessed seven minke whales being harpooned by Japanese whalers.
Greenpeace campaigner Richard Page said
"Whilst Mr. Kono tries to continue 'business as usual' and discuss future European relations, his country is flagrantly defying international law. To avoid political embarrassment, he should ensure that Japan operates within the law and call off the whaling ships."
The Governments of the UK, US Australia, New Zealand and, most recently, Argentina, have all protested to Japan over the last two months yet Japan continues its illegal whaling operations.
Greenpeace today called on the British Government to reiterate its opposition to Japan's whaling activities directly to Mr. Kono. The Japanese Foreign Minister will be in London on Wednesday 12 th January and in Paris on 13 th January, meeting with the foreign ministers of both countries. France was the first country to propose the Southern Ocean as a sanctuary for whales to permanently protect them from hunting. (1)
Japan's whaling in the Southern Ocean Sanctuary is part of a strategy to overturn the international agreement to protect whales. Japan, with the support of Norway, is actively lobbying to lift the current ban on the international trade in whale products at the international meeting of CITES to be held in Nairobi, in April 2000. Japan has also embarked on a concerted effort to convince over a dozen developing countries to become members of the International Whaling Commission (IWC) and vote with Japan to resume large scale commercial whaling world-wide in exchange for foreign aid from the Government of Japan.
"If the international community stand by and let the Government of Japan have its way, whale species around the world will be threatened once again by large scale, commercial hunting," added Page.
Notes to editors:
1. The Southern Ocean Sanctuary was established in 1994 by the International Whaling Commission with a vote of 23-1. Japan is the only country in the world that does not recognise the sanctuary.
2. Japan plans to hunt 440 minke whales this season by exploiting a loophole the law that allows 'scientific' whaling. However, it sells the whale meat commercially on the open market.
3. Footage and stills of a harpooned whale taken in the Antarctic is available from the Greenpeace Press office
Further information:
Contact:
Greenpeace Press Office on 020 7865 8255
