Abstract

The bodies that regulate public international law, particularly those concerning areas of environmental law, are currently incapable of unilaterally enforcing international treaties and conventions. On December 1, 2015, Japan’s Institute of Cetacean Research (ICR) commenced the organization’s New Scientific Whale Research Program in the Antarctic Ocean (NEWREP-A). This paper argues that by launching NEWREP-A, Japan willfully acted in direct contravention to the International Court of Justice’s ruling in Australia v. Japan (2014), which found that the ICR’s previous research programs violated existing public international law and, thus, blocked all future scientific whaling permits from being issued to the Japanese institute. Through examining the international treaties and conventions governing whaling, environmental and maritime law, the historical context of Japanese whaling practices, and American legislative and political history, this paper defends the International Court of Justice’s opinion and calls on the American government to support and enforce the ruling through extraterritorial application of United States law.

How to Cite:

Rebmann, S. K., (2016) “Japanese Whaling and the International Community: Enforcing the International Court of Justice and Halting NEWREP-A”, Arizona Journal of Interdisciplinary Studies 5, 65-76.