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Japan's continued whaling in the Antarctic has been repeatedly condemned by the international community, and in fact violates international law, in particular the United Nations Law of the Sea.

In 1982, 144 states adopted the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) which then came into force in September 1996. UNCLOS is an international convention, and thus binds nation states which have ratified it, including whaling nations suchas Japan and Norway.

UNCLOS establishes the rights and duties of states with respect to the use of the sea. One of the duties it addresses specifically is the protection of marine mammals. Articles 65 and 120 of UNCLOS establish that all states must cooperate with a view to the conservation of marine mammals and in the case of cetaceans shall in particular work with the appropriate international organizations for their conservation, management and study.

The appropriate organization in this case is the International Whaling Commission (IWC), which has the task of ensuring conservation and management of whale stocks around the world. As part of its efforts to save from extinction the remaining populations of whales, the IWC has established a number of mechanisms. The most recent is the Southern Oceans Sanctuary (SOS), which prohibits commercial whaling in a designated area in the Southern Ocean, off Antarctica.

The establishment of the SOS was adopted with near unanimity. The only country that voted against the sanctuary was Japan. Japan then registered an objection to the decision and has since that time continued to whale in the Southern Ocean Sanctuary.

Japan justifies its actions by claiming that the whaling they conduct in the Southern Ocean is not commercial in nature, but scientific. Yet the IWC has judged that the Japanese "scientific" whaling program "does not address critically important research needs for the management of whaling in the Southern Ocean" and is therefore unnecessary and needs to stop.

Every year, as a reaction to Japan's continued whaling in the Southern Ocean Sanctuary, the IWC passes a resolution condemning Japan, and calling on it to stop the research program. And every year the Japanese whaling fleet ignores IWC resolutions and sets sail to Antarctic waters to take more whales.

UNCLOS requires that Japan cooperate with the IWC with respect to whaling. At present Japan cannot claim to be cooperating with the IWC:

• Japan objected to a near unanimous protectionary measure adopted by the IWC

• Japan ignores the numerous resolutions the IWC passes against Japanese whaling

• Japan ignores the IWC judgment on its so-called scientific whaling program

• Japan continues to whale in the designated Southern Oceans Sanctuary

Japan is thus flouting the requirements in Articles 65 and 120 not only that it co-operates with a view to the conservation of marine mammals but specifically that in the case of cetaceans it works through the appropriate international organizations for the conservation, management and study. Far from working through the IWC for conservation, management and study, Japan is carrying out its whaling and its so-called scientific whaling programme despite it. Japanese whaling in the SOS is thus in violation of international law, and must stop.