Iceland will not be hunting any whales in 2020. Iceland, alongside Norway and Japan, has frequently broken the International Whaling Commission’s 1986 worldwide moratorium, which indefinitely “paused” commercial whaling.

Regarding IWC, we can expect a statement based prelim question asking-

1) If IWC has a UN or any other parent organization

2) If India is a member/observer etc.

About International Whaling Commission (IWC)

• The IWC is an Inter-Governmental Organisation set up by the terms of the International Convention for the Regulation of Whaling (ICRW) signed in Washington, D.C in 1946.
• It aims to provide for the proper conservation of whale stocks and thus make possible the orderly development of the whaling industry.
• The main duty of the IWC is to keep under review and revise as necessary the measures laid down in the Schedule to the Convention which governs the conduct of whaling throughout the world.
• The body is the first piece of International Environmental Legislation established in 1946.
• Commercial whaling was banned by the IWC in 1986 after some species were almost driven to extinction.
• 89 countries have the membership of in IWC and all the member countries are signatories to this convention.
• India is a member state of the IWC.

Earlier reference

• Japan has last year withdrawn from the IWC citing domestic reasons.
• Thus, it resumed commercial whaling after 31 years, meeting a long-cherished goal of its traditionalists.

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