The IWC Report from IWC 1999 Last year Australia and New Zealand took Japan to the international courts over 'scientific' fishing for Southern Bluefin Tuna. Australia and New Zealand are winning this case. At this meeting of the IWC, Japan is also proposing to extend its 'scientific' whaling program in the Southern Ocean Sanctuary to include sperm and Bryde's whales. Under IWC rules, Japan is allowed to issue permits to kill whales for scientific purposes, even in the Southern Ocean Sanctuary. Year after year, the IWC passes resolutions objecting to Japan's minke whale kill in the Southern Ocean Sanctuary.
Countries object because it is an unnecessary scientific exercise and it has a commercial element.
Lawyers from HSI and The HSUS argue that Japan's scientific whaling program is an abuse of Japan's rights under the treaty and that Japan is not meeting its treaty obligations in good faith. These arguments give IWC members the grounds to take Japan to court with an Abuse of Rights case. This idea has already gained currency among legal academics. Professor Gillian Triggs, of Melbourne University, presents the 'Abuse of Rights' argument in Volume 5 of the Asia Pacific Journal of Environmental Law . The Humane Society of the United States.