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18 July 2001
Japan admits buying whaling votes in exchange for aid
| London - Greenpeace expressed no surprise today at the admission
by a senior official of the Fisheries Agency of Japan, Maseyuku
Komatsu, that Japan has been using overseas aid to secure support
for its campaign to have the current international ban on whaling
lifted. |
Whale meat on sale in Japan. Should Japan be
successful in lifting the ban on international whaling, we will
see much more of this in the future. |
The admission comes just a week before the start of the International
Whaling Commission (IWC) conference in London.(1) IWC countries
already recruited by Japan through vote buying include six eastern
Caribbean states, (Antigua and Barbuda, Dominica, Grenada, St Lucia,
St Vincent and the Grenadines, St Kitts and Nevis), and Guinea.
Panama and Morocco have also joined the IWC this year and are also
expected to vote alongside Japan.
Richard Page, Greenpeace International Whaling Campaigner said:
"Japan is effectively buying its way back to large scale commercial
whaling and destroying the integrity of the IWC along the way.
"IWC member states must make clear to the government of Japan that
this is an abuse of their economic power and a threat to the very
fabric of international governance," said Page.
Mr Komatsu's comments directly contradict statements made by representatives
of the Japanese whaling industry who have repeatedly rejected accusations
of vote buying made by Greenpeace.(2)
The statement came as Mr. Jiro Hyugaji, Officer of the Whale section
of Japanese Far Seas Fisheries division rejected a call by Greenpeace
to guarantee aid to countries regardless of how they vote at the
forthcoming IWC.(3)
In an interview with Australia's ABC TV, Mr Komatsu stated that
they saw nothing wrong in buying votes. He admitted that a number
of countries have accepted aid in return for backing Japan's efforts
to get commercial whaling restarted and described aid as 'a major
tool'. Mr Komatsu also referred to minke whales, which Japan is
allowed to catch under a clause within the IWC that allows 'scientific
research' whaling as "cockroaches of the oceans".(4)
Last weekend, the Prime Minister of Antigua and Barbuda, Lester
Bird, admitted in an interview with the Caribbean news agency 'CANA'
that his administration was supporting whaling because of aid received
from Japan. In the interview he said, "Quite frankly I make no bones
about it...if we are able to support the Japanese, and the quid
pro quo is that they are going to give us some assistance, I am
not going to be a hypocrite; that is part of why we do so."
Dominica's Environment Minister, Atherton Martin, resigned last
year in protest against his country being bribed by Japan to vote
against moves to establish a South Pacific whale sanctuary at the
IWC. He will be attending this year's whaling commission meeting
to highlight the problem of vote buying and to outline the opportunities
that whale watching offers countries in the Caribbean and South
Pacific.
Notes:
1) The meeting will take place on 23-27 July at the Novotel, Hammersmith,
London.
(2) Visit the Japanese Whaling Association website www.jp-whaling-assn.com/rebuttal.htm
(3) Greenpeace Japan wrote to the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry
and Fisheries on 29 July requesting that they guarantee in writing
to all IWC member states that their fisheries and development aid
programmes have nothing to do with votes in the IWC meeting (copies
of letter available from Greenpeace UK). Greenpeace Japan received
an oral response over the phone from Mr. Jiro Hyugaji, officer of
the Whale section of Far Seas Fisheries division yesterday (17 July).
He said that Japan will not be taking any actions to make such guarantees.
He also refused to confirm this in writing to Greenpeace.
(4) Mr Komatsu made the admissions in an interview with both the
newswire AAP, ABC radio and ABC TV.
(5) Six Caribbean countries voted with Japan last year on virtually
every motion at the International Whaling Commission (IWC), including
rejecting an Australian move to create a whale sanctuary in the
South Pacific. Greenpeace believes that Panama and Morocco, who
are joining the IWC this year, despite having no involvement in
whaling or whale conservation have also had their votes 'bought'
by Japan. For a full briefing on vote buying visit http://www.greenpeace.org.uk/Multimedia/Live/FullReport/3525.pdf
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