Failure at IWC is no surprise

“Today’s announcement that the International Whaling Committee (IWC) meeting in Agadir failed to achieve a diplomatic solution is disappointing, as Foreign Minister Murray McCully states, but surely comes as no surprise” commented Democrats for Social Credit Party Leader Stephnie de Ruyter.

“It was always unlikely that the whaling nations of Japan, Norway and Iceland would agree to any compromise proposal which placed limitations on their ability to whale at will. The impression that a diplomatic solution may be reached was arguably only ever a stalling tactic. And it worked: the member countries will now wait for another year before returning to the negotiating table.

“As the New Zealand government’s representative at the IWC meeting, Foreign Minister McCully would have lost nothing by clearly and directly stating this country's resolute opposition to whaling, and particularly to Japanese whaling in the Southern Ocean Sanctuary.

“By attempting to broker a compromise deal, he has missed an opportunity to remind the whaling nations of our collective abhorrence of whaling, and failed to influence the IWC process.

“Disappointing, but not surprising” Ms de Ruyter concluded.

Published: June 2010