Aussie PM Rudd to Japan: End the whaling, or we'll see you in court.

[flvegan]

Feb. 19 (Bloomberg) -- Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd said he will take Japan to the International Court of Justice this year unless it agrees to stop killing whales in Antarctica.

“If we don’t get that as a diplomatic agreement, let me tell you, we’ll be going to the International Court of Justice,” Rudd said in an interview today on the Seven network. “That’s the bottom line and we’re very clear to the Japanese that’s what we intend to do.”

Rudd promised a tougher stance on Japan’s annual whale hunts when campaigning in the 2007 general election and, after taking power, sent a customs vessel to gather photographic evidence on whether the killings are a breach of the 1986 moratorium on commercial whaling. Japan says its hunts are legal under a rule in the moratorium allowing for “lethal research” on the mammals.

Japan’s whaling program, which costs about $60 million a year, has gained attention due to clashes between the whalers and activists from the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society. Japan last year blamed the group for a reduction in its catch to 680 whales from a target of as many as 985.

A powerboat skippered by Sea Shepherd activist Peter Bethune was sliced in two during a collision with the harpoon vessel Shonan Maru 2 on Jan. 6 and sank two days later.

Bethune, a New Zealander who used the vessel for the fastest powerboat circumnavigation of the world in 2008, boarded the Shonan Maru this week in what Sea Shepherd said was an attempt to make a citizen’s arrest of the Japanese captain. Japan’s government is considering bringing Bethune to Tokyo to press charges for alleged trespassing.

Rudd said today his government’s choice of negotiating before resorting to legal action is justified as Japan is a “friend” and “long-standing economic partner.” He also said the tactic represents “a direct honoring of the commitment I gave to the Australian people.”

Sea Shepherd has prevented the Japanese fleet from killing whales, the world’s largest mammals, since Feb. 5, according to a statement on the group’s Web site yesterday.

http://www.businessweek.com/news/2010-02-18/australia-may-take-court-action-against-japan-whaling-this-year.html


Big talk. Hope they back it up. 3 cheers if they do.

[GirlAfire]

1. I concur with your sentiment at the end. N/T