Australia wins whaling case against Japan
The UN's top court has ruled that Japan's whaling hunt in the Southern Ocean is not a scientific program as Tokyo has always claimed.
"The court concludes that the special permits granted by Japan for the killing, taking and treating of whales in connection with JARPA II are not for purposes of scientific research," President Peter Tomka told the International Court of Justice in The Hague on Monday.
The court ruled Tokyo should cease its whaling program "with immediate effect".
The ICJ, by 12 votes to four, said Japan hadn't acted in compliance with its obligations under the international whaling convention.
Australia had asked the 16-judge panel to ban Japan's annual hunt on the basis it was not "for purposes of scientific research" as allowed under Article 8 of the 1946 International Convention for the Regulation of Whaling.
Canberra argued Tokyo was cloaking a commercial whaling operation "in the lab coat of science" despite agreeing to a 1980s ban on harpooning.
Japan, however, countered during a three-week hearing in mid-2013 that the ICJ didn't have the authority to decide what was, or wasn't, science.
It insisted lethal research was both lawful and necessary.
But the court on Monday dismissed Tokyo's argument
Australia's stance on commercial whaling
According to the Department of Environment, Australia is "resolutely opposed" to all forms of commercial whaling, including so-called "scientific whaling".
Australia officially ended commercial whaling in 1979, after whale hunting during the 19th and 20th centuries brought several whale species to the brink of extinction.
The UN's top court has ruled that Japan's whaling hunt in the Southern Ocean is not a scientific program as Tokyo has always claimed.
"The court concludes that the special permits granted by Japan for the killing, taking and treating of whales in connection with JARPA II are not for purposes of scientific research," President Peter Tomka told the International Court of Justice in The Hague on Monday.
The court ruled Tokyo should cease its whaling program "with immediate effect".
The ICJ, by 12 votes to four, said Japan hadn't acted in compliance with its obligations under the international whaling convention.
Australia had asked the 16-judge panel to ban Japan's annual hunt on the basis it was not "for purposes of scientific research" as allowed under Article 8 of the 1946 International Convention for the Regulation of Whaling.
Canberra argued Tokyo was cloaking a commercial whaling operation "in the lab coat of science" despite agreeing to a 1980s ban on harpooning.
Japan, however, countered during a three-week hearing in mid-2013 that the ICJ didn't have the authority to decide what was, or wasn't, science.
It insisted lethal research was both lawful and necessary.
But the court on Monday dismissed Tokyo's argument
Australia's stance on commercial whaling
According to the Department of Environment, Australia is "resolutely opposed" to all forms of commercial whaling, including so-called "scientific whaling".
Australia officially ended commercial whaling in 1979, after whale hunting during the 19th and 20th centuries brought several whale species to the brink of extinction.
