Press release - 19 March, 2009
Greenpeace today lodged an appeal against government censorship, calling on the Fisheries Agency of Japan (FAJ) to release uncensored copies of whale meat sales documents obtained by Greenpeace through a 2008 Freedom of Information request.
The documents are supposed to detail whale meat sales as well as contracts between the FAJ and the Institute of Cetacean Research (ICR). However, what the FAJ released on January 19 this year was so heavily censored almost every line was obscured, rendering the documents worthless.
"These blacked-out documents represent the level of secrecy surrounding the government-funded whaling programme," said Jun Hoshikawa, Greenpeace Japan Executive Director. "They are symbolic of the FAJ's willingness to breach its own promise of transparency and accountability."
Co-signed by Shokichi Kina, an Upper House Diet member from the Democratic Party of Japan, Greenpeace's formal appeal comes as Junichi Sato and Toru Suzuki, known as the Tokyo Two, prepare for the next stage of their court case in Aomori. The two are on trial for exercising their duty as concerned citizens and exposing wrongdoing inside a public organisation.
Despite the current economic crisis - the worst in a century in Japan - the FAJ continues to subsidise the ICR's so-called scientific whaling expeditions to the Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary to the tune of ¥500 million (USD 5 million) a year. Taxpayers are footing the bill for this unprofitable enterprise, yet the FAJ has denied the public the right to know how their money is being spent.
"The public has an overriding right to information on misconduct by government officials. By exposing an embezzlement ring inside the Japanese whaling fleet, the Tokyo Two acted within the long-standing traditions of international human rights, and in the best interests of the Japanese public," said international human rights lawyer Richard Harvey.
The uncensored truth is that this taxpayer-funded whaling programme is scientifically bankrupt, ecologically and economically unsustainable, and neither needed or wanted by anyone outside the whaling industry and a handful of bureaucrats.
Greenpeace is an independent, global campaigning organisation that acts to change attitudes and behaviour, to protect and conserve the environment, and to promote peace.
Other contacts: Greg McNevin - Greenpeace International Communications
+81 (0)80 5416 6506
Kyoko Murakami - Greenpeace Japan Communications
+81 (0)3 5338 9816
