Whaling conference starts amidst scandal, corruption and secrecy

Agadir, 21st of June 2010. Only shortly after the long anticipated 62nd annual Meeting of the International Whaling Commission (IWC) was opened in Agadir, Morocco, the meeting was swiftly closed to all but Government delegates. The now secret meeting is discussing the highly controversial proposal to resume commercial whaling and, in contravention of normal practice, countries decided to expel NGOs and the media from the key focus of the meeting and to negotiate behind closed doors. This comes after serious accusations were raised in the media about corruption at the highest levels of the Commission and vote-buying by Japan, a country that has been accused of perpetuating a campaign of dirty tricks to overturn the ban on commercial whaling. As a result of a two-year negotiation process a so-called "Deal" aims to reach a ‘compromise’ between the pro-whaling nations Japan, Iceland and Norway, supported by the USA and New Zealand, and those nations who wish to maintain the current moratorium on whaling. Countries like Australia, the Latin American countries and large parts of the EU want to see an IWC that takes control of the existing renegade whaling and see it ended immediately or at least phased-out in a very short period of time. “How can we hope that the IWC can actually represent the people of the world to do the right thing for whales when we see yet another sign of how the pro-whalers and the USA manipulate the IWC system to take their dirty dealings behind closed doors. When all that the public get to see is reports of scandal and corruption, why should any of us trust anything these countries are doing out of the light of media and NGO scrutiny”, said Nicolas Entrup spokesperson of WDCS, the Whale and Dolphin Conservation Society. "Excluding civil society from the negotiations when the fate of thousands of whales is hanging in the balance is certainly not the way forward for the IWC. If the IWC member governments want to regain the trust of their peoples they need to pull the plug now, stop these flawed and ‘lowest common denominator’ negotiations and leave the moratorium untouched. Anything else can only be seen as a victory for the powers of blackmail and corruption” “This has now become a test of the principle of democracy and not just of where Governments stand on the issue of whaling. Countries should not harpoon our rights as they cowardly hide behind closed doors to harpoon the moratorium that so many fought so hard to achieve and maintain”