Japan’s whaling program in seas near Antarctica is not for scientific purposes, judges at the UN’s highest court ruled on Monday.
The International Court of Justice in The Hague also agreed with Australia that Tokyo should revoke permits to catch and kill whales for research purposes, Reuters reported.
Australia, which brought the case before the court in The Hague in 2010, had argued that Japan’s assertion that it was carrying out scientific research was to justify what was in fact pure commercial whaling.
The JARPA II research program has been going on since 2005, it has involved the killing of about 3,600 minke whales, and “the scientific output to date appears limited,” presiding Judge Peter Tomka said.
Source: FARS
