Buenos Aires, July 1 st 2008.- Back in Buenos Aires, we would like to summed up some of the events that occurred by the end of this particular plenary meeting of the International Whaling Commission (IWC) which occurred between last June 23rd and 27th, and which was characterized by the search of consensus and the intention to move towards a process of modernization as expressed by its members.
As previously mentioned, after the recognition of the stagnation of the negotiations and decisions that the IWC is undergoing by few years now, this meeting was expected to maintain the spirit achieved in previous intercessional meetings, aiming to pursue progress and renew the Convention.
One of the events occurred within the context of this ongoing process, was the possibility that for the first time after many years and many requests from NGOs - participating as observers without voice neither vote - the IWC gave the opportunity to the civil society to express by means of the NGOs attending this meeting. On Wednesday, June 23rd, 6 NGOs, including three in favour of conservation, and 3 in favour of whaling, had the chance to present their positions on the IWC. In the case of the first, Latin American NGOs were present through a speech by Barbara Galletii, from the CCC - Centro de Conservacion Cetacea from Chile, whose words focused on a greater openness to the participation of civil society, greater transparency in the processes of the Commission, the support to the moratorium and the development of strategies for conservation of cetaceans, emphasizing the right of countries from the region to the use of cetacean populations through non-lethal methods. Latin American NGO's Declaration (English) Latin American NGO's Declaration(Spanish)
During the morning of Thursday 26th, after a brief commissioners closed session, the meeting continued with the presentation of reports from different committees to the plenary. In particular, the morning was devoted to the exhibition by the Chair of the Conservation Committee of the topics discussed during their meeting. This committee is a clear example of the contentious issues that are part of the Commission, as it is resisted by some of the pro-whaling nations that are members of the IWC, which often do not even participate in its meetings.
Was the agreement broken?
Despite the agreement on adopting proposals by consensus and not push controversial issues to voting, during Greenland's presentation of the report of the Aboriginal Subsistence Whaling Sub-committee, in the section on humpback whales in Greenland, when it was found out about the proposal of this territory to catch this species, Denmark (on behalf of Greenland) requested the floor and expressed that if its proposal passed they will reduce its annual catch of Fin whales, but if it was not the case, they would put the proposal to vote if it did not achieve the necessary consensus. After being clear that there was no consensus, necessary to approve the proposal, and a strong confrontation with interventions of members in favour and against the proposal, the Commission proceeded to a vote, resulting in 36 countries against , 29 in favour and 2 abstentions, by means of which the proposal to incorporate the capture of humpback whales was not approved.
Subsequently, and as was expected on the agenda, the floor was taken by the delegate from Chile, Dr. Maquieira, who, on behalf of his country and the Buenos Aires Group, expressed that Argentina and Brazil would submit the proposal for a South Atlantic Sanctuary, but given that it would not reach a consensus, it would not be push to a vote, in accordance with the spirit of what was agreed towards the modernization process in which the IWC is immersed.
Consulted on this situation, Miguel Iñíguez, Alternate Commissioner and President of Fundación Cethus said: "The Buenos Aires Group supports this process of modernization of the IWC that is just beginning and hence we will work actively in that direction, through the participation of 5 countries of our region in the working group”, referring to the working group that was generated in the Plenary of Santiago in order to work towards the future of the IWC as a Convention.
In recent days, many voices were raised questioning the decision taken by the Governments of our region, and some of the NGOs that were given a vote of faith (accepting the decision of not put contentious issues to vote, despite of not agreeing with the decision of the IWC). Some of us feel that somehow the Latin bloc has remained at the tough stance of support and respect the decision of search for consensus towards the modernization of the IWC, agreed at the intercessional meeting held in Heathrow, UK, in March 2008, with the final objective of incorporating more conservation issues and looking for minimizing the catch of cetaceans. For now we bet on this decision, and we hope to continue working together with our governments.
Cecilia Gasparrou, Marta Hevia, Miguel Iñíguez and Vanesa Tossenberger, members of Fundación Cethus present at the
60 th IWC Plenary meeting.
We would like to stress that this meeting allowed the attendance of many NGOs of the region, and many of its scientists in the Scientific Committee, generating at different levels, a greater exchange of information and discussion about our problems, strengths and weaknesses. It also positioned us to the eyes of the Buenos Aires Group, as a bloc with clear demands but in favour of the decisions taken by governments of our region that manifested clearly in favour of the conservation and non-lethal use of cetaceans.
As a final note, we stress that at this meeting the Ambassador Eduardo Iglesias (Commissioner of Argentina), left his post in the IWC, after several years of active participation in it, and of being protagonist of everything that happened in it, having been Chair of the IWC at the time it agreed the moratorium on commercial whaling and one of the drivers for the creation of the Buenos Aires Group.
From Fundación Cethus, we thank everyone who has supported us and has enabled us to attend this meeting, particularly IFAW (International Fund for Animal Welfare) which has allowed the participation of Jimena Belgrano in the Scientific Committee.
