Ulsan, 21 June 2005: Eugene Lapointe, President of IWMC World Conservation Trust, the world's leading pro-sustainable use conservation group, today warned that Australia's aggressive approach to the International Whaling Commission meeting in South Korea is undermining the proceedings.

Mr. Lapointe, a former Secretary General of CITES, said: "The IWC is an international regulatory body where member states traditionally share information in a respectful manner and endeavor to make informed decisions on whale management issues. It is not a western Parliamentary debating chamber where individuals often antagonize each other and try to score political points."

"Australia's representatives, and Minister Campbell in particular, are out of step with other delegations at the meeting. In all my thirty years officiating and participating at international meetings on the management of wildlife, I have never witnessed a challenge to the right of a country to respond to points raised about a proposal it has presented, or a challenge to a request for a private meeting of delegation leaders. To force nations to vote on such questions is absurd, undermines the IWC's processes and ultimately damages its credibility as an international institution. Member states are to be congratulated for resisting Australia's attempt to dictate events through challenges and procedural votes."

"Perhaps the primary focus of Australia is to address its domestic constituency through members of the Australian press corps, rather than to seriously discuss the issues. This may play well back home but, in my view, it is damaging Australia's international reputation among IWC delegates, officials and observers."

The IWMC World Conservation Trust is an international organization that promotes the Sustainable Use as a conservation mechanism, the protection of the sovereign rights of independent nations and the respect of diverse cultures and traditions. It is a non-profit body supported by donations. The IWMC President and Founder is Eugene Lapointe, Former Secretary General of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) from 1982 to 1990.  

For further information, contact Eugène Lapointe
Florida: +1(727) 734-4949 or email: iwmc@iwmc.org