06/23/14 Chilean Senate Says NO to “Scientific” Whaling in front of Japanese Embassy in Santiago
Prior to the next International Whaling Commission meeting in September, NGOs valued the complaint of the Chilean Senate and supported the petition made by the parliamentarians to president Michelle Bachelet to protest against the continuation of illegal whaling disguised as “scientific” research.
Santiago de Chile, 23 June 2014 (CCC/Ecoceanos News) – Chilean senators Baldo Prokurika and Guido Girardi, along with Chilean NGOs Cetacean Conservation Center and Ecoceanos Center delivered a copy of an agreement adopted by consensus by the Chilean Senate to the Japanese ambassador in Chile, Hidenori Murakami, protesting against the continuation of so called “scientific” whaling operations in the North Pacific. The letter states that “Japanese ‘research’ program “undermines international efforts to protect and conserve these marine mammals”.The agreement was unanimously adopted by the Chilean Senate and requests the president of Chile, Michelle Bachelet, to send a protest letter to the Japanese government in light of the continuation of ‘scientific’ whaling after these operations were considered illegal by the UN International Court of Justice last March.
Senators Prokurika and Girardi stated in front of the Japanese Embassy in Santiago that Chilean waters are one of the biggest whale sanctuaries after a campaign in 2008 conducted by Cetacean Consevation Center, Ecoceanos Center and the National Confederation of Artisanal Fishers (Conapach), so it is a State policy to protect these marine mammals.
Senator Prokurika affimred that Japanese whaling “constitutes a violation to Article VIII of the International Whaling Commission so we are calling president Bachelet to issue a protest note to the government of Japan”.
Meanwhile senator Girardi lamented that “Japan insist on a criminal action” and said they will request the ministry of foreign affairs to “take the necessary measures to prevent the killing of whales in all Chilean territory claimed by the country in Antarctica”.
Barbara Galletti, president of Cetacean Conservation Center said at the Japanese embassy that “after the historical ruling of the International Court of Justice that showed that so-called ‘scientific’ whaling conducted by Japan in Antarctica is illegal, we expect that the Japanese government stops all hunting disguised as research – not only in the Southern Ocean but also in the North Pacific – since the criteria of the Court applies to both ‘research’ programs.”
Juan Carlos Cardenas, executive director of Ecoceanos Center stated “we welcome the presentation of the agreement of the Chilean Senate to protest against the continuation of illegal whaling operations and hope that this action encourages other conservation oriented countries, specially Latin American governments, to take the lead in the upcoming International Whaling Commission meeting in September, in order to guarantee the enforcement and implementation of the ruling of the International Court of Justice that clearly stated that Japanese ‘scientific’ whaling operations violate the moratorium on commercial whaling and the Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary”.
