VI Buenos Aires Group Meeting

Between 22nd and 23rd September of 2009, the VI Buenos Aires Group meeting was held which was convened by the delegation of Argentina to the International Whaling Commission (IWC). The Buenos Aires Group (GBA) was created in the homonym city in 2005 with the aim of coordinating positions among Latin American countries in relation to the IWC and the conservation of cetaceans.

Government representatives from Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Mexico, Panama, Peru, Dominican Republic and Uruguay attended the VI meeting.

From the moment of its creation this group has maintained a clear conservationist position, which has given certain prominence to the region by their voting in bloc and consensus reached within the group in favor of the conservation and the non-lethal use of cetaceans in the various IWC meetings, and the successive statements made by the group. Nowadays the Buenos Aires group represents almost 14% of IWC membership.

At the meeting in Buenos Aires, which is very close to the next intersessional IWC meeting, the attendees talked about the process that takes place within the Commission which relates to its future, particularly in relation to different strategies to follow during this process. ;

During the second and last day of the meeting, a space for the participation of regional NGOs was provided, during which they had the opportunity to talk and to raise those points of greatest interest to them to the GBA, which in turn were consolidated in a Declaration presented to the Commissioners present, to which organizations from Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Costa Rica, Colombia, Guatemala, Mexico, Nicaragua, Peru, Uruguay and Venezuela gave support. In the Declaration, among the points of greatest interest are mentioned:

-to work to achieve the worldwide definitive suspension of lethal scientific research programs under special permits,

-to maintain the validity of the moratorium on commercial whaling, and not approve any other new category of whaling,

-to continue strengthening the Latin American block of IWC members, and promote the participation of scientists and delegates from Latin America in the working bodies of the Commission.

to take into consideration the rights of communities that benefit themselves through the non-lethal use of whales, and particularly to continue promoting the development of a responsible whalewatching industry of high quality in Latin America

--to support the creation and implementation of the South Atlantic Whale Sanctuary.

To see the full statement Click here, available only in Spanish

Javier Figueroa, Alternate Commissioner of the Argentine Delegation to the IWC, after this joint session, said as a message to the society that this meeting of political nature aimed to evaluate possible scenarios for the next meeting to be held in Chile (where the Support Group of the President of the IWC is going to meet) finally remarking that there are no ideological differences between Latin American NGOs and the GBA.

In this regard, Cecilia Gasparrou – Fundación Cethus vice president said: "for Fundación Cethus this meeting, as many other organized by the GBA, are extremely important because they enable the Delegates, not only to make contact with each other to exchange and agree positions between countries, but also to listen and dialogue with representatives of various NGOs working within the region" and continued:" ... for us it was very important the initiative of the Government of Argentina to organize this meeting, particularly for the moment we are going through in this process within the IWC. "