For several years, at the International Whaling Commission (IWC), the six independent countries of the Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS) and Suriname have supported Japan's yen for killing endangered species of whales. In June the Prime Minister of Dominica, Roosevelt Skerritt, boldly broke ranks and announced in advance of the IWC's 60th meeting that Dominica would abstain on a vote for "the sustainable use of marine resources" which really means "killing whales".
It now seems that his principled position should have been adopted by the other Caribbean countries. The Japanese are working out an unsavoury deal with the outgoing George W Bush administration of the United States that might not only give them what they want, but also shed them of any need for Caribbean support.
Before I proceed any further with this commentary, I should make it clear that I am opposed to the killing of whales. Equally, I am opposed to unilateral rules on taxation and financial services made by the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) that are imposed on small jurisdictions such as those in the Caribbean. Japan, a leading member of the OECD and the current co-chair of its Global Forum on Taxation, is a hawk on this issue which, since 1998, has severely damaged the offshore financial services of many Caribbean jurisdictions.
IWC meetings have been bogged down with acrimonious debate between countries that support whaling such as Japan, Norway and Iceland on the one hand and, on the other, several countries in Latin America, Africa, Asia, and North America. The larger Caribbean countries, Jamaica, Barbados, Trinidad and Tobago, Guyana and the Bahamas are not members of the IWC. They look after their marine interests in other organisations such as the FAO's Western Central Atlantic Fishery Commission.
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It now seems that his principled position should have been adopted by the other Caribbean countries. The Japanese are working out an unsavoury deal with the outgoing George W Bush administration of the United States that might not only give them what they want, but also shed them of any need for Caribbean support.
Before I proceed any further with this commentary, I should make it clear that I am opposed to the killing of whales. Equally, I am opposed to unilateral rules on taxation and financial services made by the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) that are imposed on small jurisdictions such as those in the Caribbean. Japan, a leading member of the OECD and the current co-chair of its Global Forum on Taxation, is a hawk on this issue which, since 1998, has severely damaged the offshore financial services of many Caribbean jurisdictions.
IWC meetings have been bogged down with acrimonious debate between countries that support whaling such as Japan, Norway and Iceland on the one hand and, on the other, several countries in Latin America, Africa, Asia, and North America. The larger Caribbean countries, Jamaica, Barbados, Trinidad and Tobago, Guyana and the Bahamas are not members of the IWC. They look after their marine interests in other organisations such as the FAO's Western Central Atlantic Fishery Commission.
Discuss Add this link to... Bury
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