MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Japan abides International Court of Justice ruling to halt whaling program

Presiding Judge Peter Tomka said the court had decided, by 12 votes to four, that Japan should withdraw all permits and licenses for whaling in the Antarctic

The UN's International Court of Justice (ICJ) has ruled that Japan must temporarily halt its whaling program in the Antarctic. It agreed with Australia, which brought the case in May 2010, that the program was not for scientific research as claimed by Tokyo.

 Japan said it would abide by the decision but added it “regrets and is deeply disappointed by the decision”.

Australia argued that the program was commercial whaling in disguise. The court's decision is considered legally binding. Japan had argued that the suit brought by Australia was an attempt to impose its cultural norms on Japan.

Reading out the judgment on Monday, Presiding Judge Peter Tomka said the court had decided, by 12 votes to four, that Japan should withdraw all permits and licenses for whaling in the Antarctic and refrain from issuing any new ones.

It said Japan had caught some 3,600 minke whales since its current program began in 2005, but the scientific output was limited.

Japan signed up to a moratorium on whaling in 1986, but continued whaling in the north and south Pacific under provisions that allowed for scientific research. Norway and Iceland rejected the provision and continued commercial whaling.

The meat from the slaughtered whales is sold commercially in Japan.

Japan has clashed repeatedly with Australia and some other western countries, which strongly oppose whaling on conservation grounds. Japan has argued that minke whales and a number of other species are plentiful and that its whaling activities are sustainable.

A spokesman for Greenpeace UK, Willie MacKenzie, welcomed the ICJ's decision. “The myth that this hunt was in any way scientific can now be dismissed once and for all,” he said

From Tokyo the office of the Cabinet chief said that:

1.The International Court of Justice in The Hague, Netherlands, delivered its Judgment today in the case concerning the Whaling in the Antarctic brought by Australia against Japan, with New Zealand intervening.

2. Japan is disappointed and regrets that the Court ruled that JARPA II by Japan did not fall within Article VIII, paragraph 1, of the ICRW. However, Japan will abide by the Judgment of the Court as a State that places a great importance on the international legal order and the rule of law as a basis of the international community.

3. Japan joined the International Whaling Commission more than 60 years ago; and despite the deep divisions within the Commission, and its inability in recent years to function effectively, Japan has stayed within the Commission and tried to find generally-acceptable solutions to the Commission's problems.

4. We will consider our concrete future course of actions carefully, upon studying what is stated in the Judgment.