MEMBERS QUESTION INTERNATIONAL WHALING COMMISSION’SFUTURE AND CREDIBILITY
July 27, 2001
On July 23, the International Whaling Commission voted to prevent Iceland fromreturning to IWC membership. This action was taken despite the fact that Iceland had
fulfilled all the legal requirements for membership and had paid its membershipcontribution in full. In denying Iceland the IWC clearly was in contravention of customaryinternational law. Iceland had rejoined the IWC with a reservation on the moratorium oncommercial whaling.
Today, the following IWC members expressed their profound concern for the futurecredibility of the IWC in the light of Monday’s illegal action: Iceland, Norway, Japan,
Antigua and Barbuda, Panama, St. Lucia, St. Kitts and Nevis, St. Vincent and theGrenadines, Dominica, Grenada, the People’s Republic of China and the RussianFederation.
The IWC Commissioner for Iceland, Stefan Asmundsson, stated: "International relations
are based on the rule of law. A majority of IWC members have now sidestepped thisprinciple in favour of shortsighted political objectives. The fact that this has occurredindicates that the States in question have allowed politics to dictate their policy rather
than the rule of law. This undermines not only the credibility of the IWC, but alsointernational relations in general."Japan’s IWC Commissioner, Minoru Morimoto, questioned the relevance of the IWC tothe future of the whaling industry. "Those IWC members that, like Iceland, wish to
resume sustainable whaling wanted to see that activity regulated under theorganisation’s rules. Now that the IWC has rejected Iceland’s legal right to membershipon a charge of ‘political incorrectness’ we must all ask ourselves what, if any, relevancethe IWC has for our futures."Odd Gunnar Skagestad, the IWC Commissioner for Norway, added: "Norway has
welcomed Iceland’s accession to the International Convention for the Regulation ofWhaling, expecting Iceland to take its rightful place as a member State of the IWC andexercise its full rights in this capacity. We find it unacceptable that a slim majority of theCommission, without any legal grounds or justification, and by dubious procedures, hasacted to deprive Iceland of its fundamental membership rights."
The IWC Commissioner for Antigua and Barbuda, Daven Joseph, said: "Iceland has
fulfilled all the requirements for IWC membership. No vote was required to implementthat membership. Therefore the vote to reject its membership was illegal. I propose thatmy country, and all the other signatories to this document, take the only possible legal
course and treat Iceland as a full member of the IWC."
The IWC Commissioner from the Russian Federation, Dr. Valentin Ilyashenko stated:"We associate ourselves with those contracting parties who declared that (i) the IWC
does not have the right to accept or reject the reservations of any contracting party; (ii)
Iceland enjoys the sovereign right to declare its reservation; (iii) the contentious debate
on Iceland’s membership constituted nothing less than a campaign to force Iceland toabandon its reservation, and (iv) all attempts to pressure Iceland to abandon its
reservation or to deprive it of its legal membership in the IWC constitute interference inthe sovereign rights of an independent State and are in violation of international law."