Whaling meeting to run behind closed doors
Jun 21, 2010
© WSPA
WSPA is extremely disappointed and appalled by the International Whaling Commission's (IWC) 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 the inhumane slaughter of up to 13,000 whales a year for the next ten years.
Find out more about the explosive proposal >>
Non governmental organisations and charities are here at the meeting in Agadir, Morocco, 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 die 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.
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.
Read about Sir Paul McCartney's opposition to whaling >>