If Japan is going to start rounding up political prisoners for the crime of defending whales, they're going to have to arrest a whole heaping lot of us.
Junichi Sato is one of Greenpeaces Ocean campaigners in Japan, now facing a maximum of 10 years in prison for exposing the crime of Japan's whaling industry.
After nine months of disconnection from their colleagues and workplace, Junichi Sato and Toru Suzuki walked back into the Greenpeace Japan office last week. He is very thankful to all who took action for him and he has been kind enough to share some thoughts on his return. Please read them in their staff blog.
And if you haven't already taken action against this injustice - tell Japan they should arrest you too - for standing against the killing of whales in the Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary and opposing the scandal and corruption of their whaling industry.
For the Whales,
Greenpeace
1 comment:
So if anyone is to be taken to court -who is it; Ponder this:
The Japanese are illegally killing whales in the Australian Antarctic
Territory.
The Japanese are illegally targeting fin whales this year and keep threatening to target humpback whales. These are endangered species, and thus, this is a violation of CITES, the Convention on the International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Flora and Fauna.
The Japanese are in violation of IWC regulation 19(a). The IWC regulations in the Schedule to the convention forbid the use of factory ships to process any protected stock: “19. (a) It is forbidden to use a factory ship or a land station for the purpose of treating any whales
which are classified as Protection Stocks in paragraph 10.
Paragraph 10(c) provides a definition of Protection Stocks and states that protection Stocks are listed in the Tables of the Schedule. Table 1 lists all the baleen whales, including minke, fin, and humpback whales and states that all of them are Protection Stocks.
In addition, the IWC regulations specifically ban the use of factory ships to process any whales except minke whales: Paragraph 10(d) provides: “(d) Notwithstanding the other provisions of paragraph 10 there shall be a moratorium on the taking, killing or treating of
whales, except minke whales, by factory ships or whale catchers attached to factory ships. This moratorium applies to sperm whales, killer whales and baleen whales, except minke whales.” Fin and humpback whales are both baleen whales and are subject to this moratorium.
The Legal Powers to stop whaling.
These are contained in the UN World Charter for Nature (1982).
Under the charter individuals singly and collectively have an obligation and duty to safeguard nature against illegal activities:
S. 21: States and, to the extent they are able, other public authorities, international organizations, individuals, groups and corporations shall:
(a) Implement the applicable international legal provisions for the conservation of nature, and the protection of the environment;
(d) Ensure that activities within their jurisdiction , or control do not cause damage to the natural systems located within other States or in the areas beyond the limits of national jurisdiction;
(e) Safeguard and conserve nature in areas beyond national jurisdiction.
· S.24: Each person has a duty to act in accordance with the provisions of the present Charter; acting individually, in association with others or through participation in the political process, each person shall strive to ensure that the objectives and requirements of the present charter are met. “
Maybe we could also throw into the mix the Japanese breaking various MLA's [multi-lateral environmental agreements] such as the ATS {antarctic treaty system] They ratified these, signed them off and then proceeded to break them with no sanctions being imposed on them by the international community [your governments]. The only sanctiona available are 'trade sanctions' which is against WTO rules. So it's trade or whales- no prises for guessing what misses out.
As individuals we can simply stop buying anything made in Japan-something i advocated for 5 years on my web site [which closed down in January]www.stopwhaling.co.nz [don't look it up ity's gone].
An action Greenpeace refused to support.
cheers
from Aotearoa-NZ
Dave Head
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