Motion for a resolution - B8-0853/2016Motion for a resolution
B8-0853/2016

MOTION FOR A RESOLUTION on Japan’s decision to resume whaling in the 2015-2016 season

29.6.2016 - (2016/2600(RSP))

further to Questions for Oral Answer B8-0702/2016 and B8-0703/2016
pursuant to Rule 128(5) of the Rules of Procedure

Anja Hazekamp, Stefan Eck, Merja Kyllönen, Eleonora Forenza, Sabine Lösing, Marisa Matias, Kateřina Konečná, Jiří Maštálka, Josu Juaristi Abaunz, Marina Albiol Guzmán, Sofia Sakorafa, Estefanía Torres Martínez, Lola Sánchez Caldentey, Tania González Peñas, Miguel Urbán Crespo, Xabier Benito Ziluaga, Anne-Marie Mineur on behalf of the GUE/NGL Group

See also joint motion for a resolution RC-B8-0853/2016

Procedure : 2016/2600(RSP)
Document stages in plenary
Document selected :  
B8-0853/2016
Texts tabled :
B8-0853/2016
Debates :
Texts adopted :

B8-0853/2016

European Parliament resolution on Japan’s decision to resume whaling in the 2015-2016 season

(2016/2600(RSP))

The European Parliament,

–  having regard to the international moratorium on commercial whaling, declared by the International Whaling Commission,

–  having regard to its resolution of 25 October 2012 on EU trade negotiations with Japan[1],

–  having regard to Resolution 2014-5 on whaling under special permit (known as scientific whaling), adopted by the International Whaling Commission at its 65th Annual Meeting in Slovenia in 2014,

–  having regard to the judgment of the International Court of Justice of 31 March 2014 in the case concerning whaling in the Antarctic (Australia v Japan: New Zealand intervening),

–  having regard to the Japanese Research Plan for ta New Scientific Whale Research Programme in the Antarctic Ocean (NEWREP-A),

–  having regard to the questions to the Council and to the Commission on Japan’s decision to resume whaling in the 2015-2016 season (O-000058/2016 – B8-0702/2016 and O-000059/2016 – B8-0703/2016),

–  having regard to Rules 128(5) and 123(2) of its Rules of Procedure,

A.  whereas the International Whaling Commission (IWC) has banned commercial whaling on all great whale species in 1982, with this ban coming into effect in 1986;

B.  whereas Japan, despite this international ban, has continued whaling under various unjustified pretences, including scientific ones, and between the ban’s coming into effect in 1986 and 2008/2009 Japan killed over 17 000 whales[2];

C.  whereas the whaling activities still being carried out by some countries can cause severe and prolonged suffering to individual animals and threaten the conservation status of whale populations as a whole;

D.  whereas the International Court of Justice (ICJ), in its judgment of 31 March 2014, rejected Japan’s scientific whaling programme and considered that the special permits granted by Japan to kill, take and treat fin, humpback and Antarctic minke whales do not fall within the scope of Article VIII, paragraph 1, of the International Convention for the Regulation of Whaling, and are not in conformity with Japan’s obligations under several paragraphs of the Schedule to the International Convention for the Regulation of Whaling;

E.  whereas, despite this verdict of the ICJ, Japan, after an interruption in 2014, resumed its whaling activities in 2015 under the its Research Plan for a New Scientific Whale Research Programme in the Antarctic Ocean (NEWREP-A);

F.  whereas, under the NEWREP-A programme, Japan plans to hunt a total of 3 996 minke whales over a 12-year period;

G.  whereas the expert panel of scientists of the International Whaling Commission that considered and reviewed NEWREP-A concluded that the proposal did not demonstrate the need for lethal sampling to achieve the stated objectives;

H.  whereas the Commission, the Council and Parliament support the maintenance of the global moratorium on commercial whaling and a ban on international commercial trade in whale products, seek to end so-called scientific whaling and support the designation of substantial regions of ocean and seas as sanctuaries in which all whaling is indefinitely prohibited;

I.  whereas the EU and its Member States have criticised Japan for resuming activities and for not paying sufficient regard to the guidance found in the 2014 ICJ opinion; whereas in December 2015 they joined New Zealand in a demarche vis-à-vis the Government of Japan;

J.  whereas negotiations on an EU-Japan Free Trade Agreement (FTA) were officially launched on 25 March 2013;

K.  whereas trade policies should, inter alia, serve as a means to improve respect for human rights, animal welfare and environmental protection, including protection of marine mammals;

1.  Calls on Japan to stop all its whaling activities;

2.  Calls on the Commission and on the Council to urge Japan, in the context of the ongoing EU-Japan FTA negotiations, to commit to its international obligations regarding the protection of marine mammals;

3.  Declares that, as long as Japan continues its whaling activities, this constitutes a further reason not to give consent to the conclusion of the EU-Japan FTA;

4.  Urges the Council and Commission, when drafting an updated EU common position on whaling after the 66th IWC meeting in October 2016, to take an approach that is at least as precautionary as the present common position (Council Decision establishing the position to be adopted on behalf of the European Union, in relation to matters falling within its competence, at the next three meetings of the International Whaling Commission – 2011/0221 (NLE));

5.  Instructs its President to forward this resolution to the Council and the Commission, the governments and parliaments of the Member States and the Government and Parliament of Japan.