Greenpeace protest against whaling and Human Rights breaches

Japanese ship drowning a harpooned whale. Copyright Greenpeace

"Arrest me too" - Greenpeace activists worldwide join vigil to end whaling

December 2008. Marking the 60th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, representatives of Greenpeace worldwide presented themselves at the office of Japanese Prime Minister Aso, calling for the end to the political persecution of two Greenpeace anti-Southern Ocean whaling activists. Japan has been consistently criticized by the UN for restricting freedom of expression.

In a letter to Prime Minister Aso, the group called on him to end the Japanese Government-funded annual whale hunt in the Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary. Following a Greenpeace undercover investigation in May 2008 that exposed the embezzlement of whale meat from the taxpayer-funded whaling fleet, Japanese authorities responded with a politically-motivated prosecution, arresting Junichi Sato and Toru Suzuki and raiding the Greenpeace Japan office in June 2008. They have now been awaiting trial for 172 days under bail conditions which prevent them from continuing their Greenpeace campaign work to end whaling. The trial is expected to begin early next year; they are both facing up to 10 years imprisonment.

The group declaring themselves 'co-defendants' included Executive Directors of Greenpeace offices from Japan, Germany, Netherlands, Australia, Switzerland, Brazil, USA and the Nordic countries, as well as Australian ex-whaling captain Paddy Hart. If Aso could not meet their demands, they said he should instead order their arrest for daring to defend the whales.

Meanwhile, at Japanese embassies in Brazil, USA, New Zealand, Argentina, France, Norway, Finland, Sweden, Denmark, Netherlands, Belgium, Mexico, Spain, Greece, Canada, Italy and on Bondi Beach in Sydney, Australia, activists declared themselves as 'co-defendants', by asking the Japanese government to "Arrest Me Too" and to put "Whaling on Trial".

On trial for exposing embezzlement
"We want Prime Minister Aso to know that if Junichi Sato and Toru Suzuki are to be tried for exposing whale meat embezzlement and working to end the killing of whales in the Japanese Government's 'research' programme in the Southern Ocean, then we should all be arrested," said Jun Hoshikawa, Executive Director of Greenpeace Japan. "It's not Greenpeace activists who should be put on trial; it is the government-backed whaling programme in the Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary."

Ex-whaler shows there is life after whaling
Australian ex-whaling captain Paddy Hart, in Tokyo to support the Tokyo Two and the campaign to end Japan's whaling, was a master and gunner at the Cheynes Beach Whaling Station in Western Australia until it ceased operation in 1978 - following Greenpeace protests.

"I'm here to assure whalers that there is life after whaling. Japan's whaling programme is a taxpayer-funded government enterprise, so when it finally ends, it's the responsibility of the Japanese government and the Fisheries Agency to retrain the crews for other, sustainable, work. In Australia alone, 300 million Australian dollars are made every year from whalewatching - hundreds of times more than was ever made by the whaling industry", said Hart. "I am proud of my time at sea, but it was 30 years ago. Times have changed, and the world has moved on - whaling no longer has a place in the world".

Greenpeace is an independent global campaigning organisation that acts to change attitudes and behaviour, to protect and conserve the environment and to promote peace.