Press release - 14 October, 2002
On the first day of the 5th Special Meeting of the International
Whaling Commission, Iceland was voted in by a single vote as a full
member. However, Iceland does not accept the current IWC moratorium
on commercial whaling. Iceland's ratification papers to the
convention include a reservation to the moratorium which has been
in effect since 1986.
"The decision to allow Iceland to rejoin the IWC without their
agreement to uphold the moratorium will seriously undermine the
ability of the Commission to make binding decisions on it members
and sets a highly damaging precedent. What is to stop other
countries leaving the IWC and rejoining with objections to
decisions they don't like?'' said Greenpeace whale campaigner,
Richard Page.
"The whaling nations are now reaping the rewards of the
Government of Japan's vote buying strategy. Of the nineteen votes
cast in favour of Iceland's rejoining with a reservation nine were
from countries whose position in the IWC is directly linked to
their receipt of fisheries grant aid from Japan", added Page.
(1)
Notes: (1) These countries are Antigua and Barbuda, Benin, Dominica, Grenada, Guinea, Palau, St. Kitts and Nevis, St. Lucia, and the Solomon Islands. For more information on Japan's vote buying activities, read the Greenpeace report, "Buying A Return To Commercial Whaling", a Greenpeace briefing, April 2002. Download it at: www.greenpeace.org/multimedia/download/1/9485/0/Buying_a_Return_to_Commercial_Whaling.pdf