The Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary was established by the IWC in 1994 with 23 countries supporting the agreement and Japan opposing it.
[5] In an open letter to the Japanese government, published in 2002 in The New York Times and sponsored by the World Wildlife Fund (WWF), 21 scientists declared that they "believe Japan's whale 'research' program fails to meet minimum standards for credible science".
They were "concerned that Japan's whaling program is not designed to answer scientific questions relevant to the management of whales; that Japan refuses to make the information it collects available for independent review; and that its research program lacks testable hypotheses or other performance indicators consistent with accepted scientific standards".
[6] The Australian delegation to the IWC has argued to repeal the provision that allows nations to harvest whales for scientific research, to no effect.
This view received strong support from Professor W. T. Burke of the University of Washington in his paper circulated as IWC Document Number IWC/48/33.
[17] On 31 May 2010, the Australian Government lodged formal proceedings against Japan in the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in The Hague, Netherlands.
[19] The Australian public overwhelmingly supports governmental efforts to stop Japanese whaling, even at risk of losing valuable trade relations.
[20] The New Zealand government lodged a "Declaration of Intervention" with the ICJ on 6 February 2013,[21] in which it deemed Japan as ineligible for a Special Permit that would allow whaling on the basis of scientific research.
During the second week, Professor Lars Walløe, of the University of Oslo and a former Norwegian Commissioner to the Whaling Commission was presented by Japan as its sole expert witness.
In Japan's final presentation Professor Payam Akhavan of Harvard University stated: "it would not be an exaggeration to say that Australia's case now hangs by a thread".