The Antarctic Whaling case: litigation in the international court and the role played by NGOs

Australia, in 2010, commenced proceedings in the International Court of Justice against Japan challenging the international legal validity of Japan’s conduct of its “scientific” whaling programme in the Southern Ocean. The case against Japan was argued in the International Court in June and July 2013. These proceedings were brought following a sustained campaign by the International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW) in Australia and internationally in which four Legal Panels were sponsored to consider the legality of Japan’s whaling programme. The role played by IFAW in promoting international litigation strategies to challenge Japan’s whaling in the Southern Ocean is considered, against a backdrop of similar and related environmental campaigns by other non-governmental organisations.