WSPA statement on IWC’s decision to run IWC62 behind closed doors:
Bridget Vercoe, WSPA New Zealand’s Country Manager said: “WSPA is extremely disappointed and appalled by the IWC’s
complete lack of transparency during the negotiation process when today choosing to run the next day and a half of
meetings behind closed doors. The outcome could see 88 member governments agreeing to sign a death warrant for up to
13,000 whales a year for the next ten years.
NGOs are here trying to represent the view of millions of people worldwide who are opposed to commercial whaling and do
not want to see this inherently cruel practice legitimised. For the IWC to exclude civil society in this manner,
especially with no prior warning is completely unacceptable.
Whales are not political pawns, whose lives are to be traded in secret – these are sentient animals that can take over
an hour to day when hunted. It is wholly unacceptable that their fate now depends on decisions made behind closed doors,
while civil society and the media are obstructed from participating.
The WSPA is strongly urging the IWC to listen to the hundreds of thousands people who, in the week leading up to this
year’s meeting, have made it clear that commercial whaling should be permanently consigned to the history books.”
ENDS