VZCZCXRO2579
PP RUEHHM RUEHPB
DE RUEHWN #1174/01 1882008
ZNY CCCCC ZZH
P 072008Z JUL 06
FM AMEMBASSY BRIDGETOWN
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 2874
INFO RUCNCOM/EC CARICOM COLLECTIVE
RUEHZN/ENVIRONMENT SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY COLLECTIVE
RUEHKO/AMEMBASSY TOKYO 0090
RUMIAAA/HQ USSOUTHCOM J2 MIAMI FL
RUMIAAA/HQ USSOUTHCOM J5 MIAMI FL
RUEHCV/USDAO CARACAS VE

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 BRIDGETOWN 001174 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE FOR OES/OA JOHN FIELD 
SOUTHCOM ALSO FOR POLAD 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 07/03/2016 
TAGS: AORC EAID EFIS PGOV PREL SENV JA SC XL
SUBJECT: INTERNATIONAL WHALING COMMISSION:  KITTITIANS 
BEHAVING BADLY 
 
REF: A. BRIDGETOWN 1133 
     ¶B. BRIDGETOWN 785 
 
Classified By: DCM Mary Ellen T. Gilroy for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d). 
 
¶1. (C) Summary:  The International Whaling Commission (IWC) 
wrapped up its annual meeting in St. Kitts on June 21, amid 
expressions of dissatisfaction and disgruntlement from 
delegates representing anti-whaling nations and environmental 
groups.  At the heart of the distress was a referendum that 
passed by a narrow margin of 33 to 32 calling upon the IWC to 
end the international ban on commercial whaling.  The 
referendum will not overturn the whaling ban but does 
represent a shift in the IWC that will make anti-whaling 
efforts more difficult to maintain.  All was not lost for the 
anti-whaling side, however, as IWC members failed to pass a 
Japanese-inspired proposal to institute secret ballots.  The 
host nation, St. Kitts and Nevis, managed to startle 
attendees with accusatory behavior during the meeting and an 
unsubstantiated request for US$750,000 to offset hosting 
costs.  End Summary. 
 
¶2. (U)  International environmental groups and Caribbean NGOs 
expressed disappointment and frustration at the decision of 
the IWC to call for the return to managed commercial whaling. 
 The international ban on whaling cannot be repealed without 
support from seventy-five percent of the nations on the 
commission, but this shift in fundamental ideology marks the 
beginnings of an uphill battle for anti-whaling lobbyists. 
The Barbados National Trust criticized its neighboring 
Organization of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS) nations 
(Antigua and Barbuda, Dominica, Grenada, St. Kitts and Nevis, 
St. Lucia, and St. Vincent and the Grenadines) for drafting 
the pro-whaling resolution, and several environmental groups 
called for a tourism boycott of the countries supporting the 
measure (ref A). 
 
¶3. (U) In addition to the much-publicized blow to the whaling 
ban, U.S. delegates to the meeting reported to Ambassador 
Kramer and Poloff on June 21 other incidents that 
characterized this IWC meeting, the first to be held in a 
developing nation.  The host country, St. Kitts and Nevis, 
among others, put forth a proposal to initiate secret ballots 
at IWC meetings, something Japan has long been lobbying for 
in order to protect some of its more cautious allies. 
Fortunately, for the sake of transparency, the vote on the 
secret ballot resulted in a tie and the motion failed because 
 
SIPDIS 
a delegate who could have cast the deciding vote in favor was 
out of the room at the time. (Note:  Israel cast the tying 
vote against the secret ballot, effectively blocking the 
resolution.  End note.) 
 
¶4. (U) Displaying particularly disconcerting audacity, the 
St. Kitts organizers asked for US$750,000 in additional 
funding for overages incurred in holding the meeting.  When 
the U.S. and other developed countries balked at this 
surcharge and the precedent it would set for future meetings, 
the Kittitians parried with a request for only US$350,000, 
offering to "split the difference" and share the expense.  In 
response, the "deep pocket" countries requested an accounting 
of the monies and details of where the host nation incurred 
overages.  The Kittitians said the information was 
"unavailable," so the IWC members denied the request. 
 
¶5. (U) Finally, in an unexpected and unnecessary display, the 
St. Kitts delegate managed to offend and discomfort almost 
everyone present during one session by demanding to know just 
what punishment the Netherlands was going to hand down to the 
Greenpeace vessel responsible for a collision earlier in the 
year with a Japanese whaling ship.  Both Japan and the 
Netherlands had investigated the matter and agreed that no 
prosecution was warranted.  Inexplicably, the St. Kitts IWC 
delegate proceeded to badger and berate the Dutch delegate on 
this essentially dead issue to the chagrin of many, including 
the Japanese. 
 
¶6. (C)  Comment:  The Caribbean script for introducing the 
resolution against the whaling ban and lobbying for it seems 
to have come directly from Japan, which has been courting 
these small island states with check-book diplomacy and 
funding government junkets to Japan under the guise of 
fact-finding and tourism-promotion (ref B).  Despite all of 
Japan's coaching, the host country organizers and St. Kitts' 
 
BRIDGETOWN 00001174  002 OF 002 
 
 
IWC delegation showed a surprising lack of decorum.  Small 
island Caribbean governments, which often criticize the U.S. 
and other large nations for failing to pay appropriate 
attention and respect to them and their concerns, frequently 
seem unwilling or unable to behave in a way that deserves 
respect.  The actions of host nation St. Kitts and Nevis, and 
other Eastern Caribbean states, during the IWC, demonstrated 
a shameless disregard for standards of behavior at a 
multilateral forum.  End comment. 
KRAMER