Australia seeks to end Japan whaling
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E-mail China.org.cn, June 27, 2013
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Australia has stated Japan's annual whale hunt is in fact a commercial slaughter and has requested the International Court of Justice to withdraw the country's hunting permits. |
Backed by New Zealand, Australia has stated that Japan's annual whale hunt is in fact a commercial slaughter of marine mammals under the disguise of science.
"Japan seeks to cloak its ongoing commercial whaling in the lab coat of science," Australia's agent to the court, Bill Campbell, told the 16-judge panel Wednesday in the Great Hall of Justice in The Hague (Netherlands).
Japan has replied that this type of lethal research is necessary to acquire the data needed to re-examine the International Whaling Commission's ban, and hopefully lift it, based on scientific studies.
Nonetheless, opponents of Japan's whale hunts insist the research can be conducted without killing innocent animals.
The hearings in The Hague will continue for three weeks. Australian officials hope that the court will deliver its judgment before the end of the year, before Japan's next whaling expedition to the Antarctic sets sail.
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