Paul Watson, the Canadian-American defender of the oceans and founder of Sea Shepherd, a citizens' organization known worldwide for saving more than 5,000 whales from Japan's 30-year illegal slaughter in the Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary, was arrested on July 21 by Danish police in Nuuk, the capital of Greenland, a self-governing territory under Danish rule. After leaving the Sea Shepherd organization due to internal conflicts, in 2022 the environmental activist created the Captain Paul Watson Foundation (CPWF) in order to continue taking direct action in defense of marine life. Watson and his crew had called the John DeJoria ship to refuel before continuing on to the North Pacific. The ship's objective was to intercept the new Japanese factory ship Kangei Maru which has recently begun a controversial commercial hunt for fin whales, the second largest species after the blue whale.

 

What began as a new expedition to save whales ended abruptly due to an Interpol warrant that was kept confidential until the time of the arrest. In 2012 the Japanese government issued such a notification arguing that incidents in 2010 between the illegal Japanese whaling fleet and Sea Shepherd in the Southern Ocean had caused "damage and injury.” However, the arrest warrant went offline a few months ago, providing a false sense of security for the activist.

 

The secret reactivation of the Interpol warrant coincides with the launch of Japan's new factory ship, the Kangei Maru, so the real motivation behind the arrest appears to be political and aimed at intimidating opponents of Japan's whaling operations. According to CPWF, the size and range of the new whaling vessel indicates that Japan is looking to resume commercial whaling in international waters in 2025, including in Southern Ocean whale sanctuary waters.

 

On August 1, the Japanese government requested Watson's extradition and the Danish Ministry of Justice is due to decide on Thursday, August 15, whether to accept or reject it. If approved, Watson could face a 15-year sentence, which for the 73-year-old could mean spending the rest of his life in prison.
 

According to a 2023 Human Rights Watch report, Japan's so-called ‘hostage justice’ system denies criminal suspects due process and a fair trial, so if Danish authorities accept Japan's extradition request, the future of one of the world's most storied marine conservationists will be bleak.

 

Under pre-trial detention in Japan, Watson will receive the same abusive treatment as those suspected of serious crimes. These include deprivation of the right to remain silent, interrogation without a lawyer, forced confessions under pressure and constant surveillance. For Kanae Doi, Japan director of Human Rights Watch, the abusive practices of the hostage justice system "have shattered lives and families, and resulted in wrongful convictions."

 

In contrast, the Danish justice system is recognized globally for its quality and progressive stance in ensuring respect for human rights and equality before the law. Therefore, the Danish judiciary has a duty to avoid becoming complicit in the Japanese hostage justice system, and to reject the extradition request in order to fulfil its mandate to uphold the right to equality and justice for all that characterizes it.

 

Monitoring, investigating and taking action against persons or organizations that violate environmental laws and cause damage to the environment is known as environmental regulation. Enforcement refers to actions taken by authorities, agencies or individuals to ensure compliance with environmental laws and regulations.

 

For more than thirty years, the government of Japan illegally hunted tens of thousands of whales in the Southern Ocean. It began its operations after reaching an agreement with the United States to develop so-called "scientific" whaling after the adoption of the moratorium in 1986. The catches expanded even after 1994, when the Southern Ocean waters were declared a whale sanctuary. It was not until 2016 that Japan had to abandon whaling in the Antarctic, following the landmark ruling of the International Court of Justice that ruled the killings illegal in 2014.

 

For three decades, Japan unilaterally removed thousands of minke whales from the Antarctic marine ecosystem. Thanks to non-lethal cetacean research, science has shown that each living whale plays a critical role in such important issues as marine productivity and combating climate change. The illegal capture of each of these whales by the Japanese government constitutes both a legal and environmental crime.

 

Watson's actions in 2010 are therefore in line with environmental advocacy and enforcement. It is ironic then that we are faced with the intervention of the Japanese state, which despite having hunted tens of thousands of whales illegally for three decades, is now attempting to criminalize the legitimate right of authorities, organizations, or in this case, citizens, to ensure compliance with environmental laws and regulations.

 

Since the surprise arrest of Paul Watson a fortnight ago, global outrage has been felt in countless actions and calls for his release. On July 23, just two days after his arrest, French President Emmanuel Macron said he was putting pressure on the Danish authorities to prevent his extradition. This is in addition to various petitions calling for his release, which together have already garnered the support of several million people around the world.

 

Most recently, the French newspaper Le Monde published a letter signed by prominent figures from the artistic, political and academic world, calling on the United Nations to intercede with Japan to obtain the release of Paul Watson. In the editorial, the authors state that to leave Watson under arrest is to ignore the principles of international law in favor of the interests of a single country, to the detriment of all humanity. They also add that the defense of whales is not an environmentalist pretense, but a crucial scientific necessity to maintain the balance of the oceans and preserve the biodiversity essential for the survival of mankind. And they conclude that freeing Watson and holding accountable the real transgressor, the Japanese state and its anachronistic, illegal and morally questionable whaling practices, is a responsibility shared by all.

 

As civil society organizations historically committed to defending the right to protect ocean biodiversity - especially marine mammals - from the criminal actions of states and business corporations, the Cetacean Conservation Center and the Ecocéanos Center join the global call to demand that the Danish authorities reject the extradition request to Japan for Paul Watson, and his immediate release. We invite all readers, citizen organizations and the scientific community to add their name to the defense of life and the oceans, as well as to the application of the international norms and regulations in force, regarding the conservation of marine biodiversity and the safeguard of human rights.