Mexican Group Challenges Canada’s Seal Hunt

Mexican Group Challenges Canada’s Seal Hunt

June 26, 2007 -- Hundreds of thousands of harp seal pups are killed every year in Northeast Canada. Yesterday, ELAW partners in Mexico filed a petition with the Montreal-based Commission for Environmental Cooperation (CEC) calling for a formal investigation into this brutal practice.

Environmentalists have long cautioned that free trade would translate to devastating environmental damage, as well as disregard for worker safety and human rights. Canada, the United States and Mexico agreed to create the CEC to act as a watchdog for natural resources when they adopted the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA).

At the time, some expected that Mexico would be the biggest violator, as the poorest of the three countries and bearing a reputation for lax enforcement of environmental laws. With this submission, however, Mexican non-governmental organizations assert that the Canadian government is at fault -- violating its own laws as well as environmental principles set forth in the tri-national agreements.

Gustavo Alanis-Ortega, President of Centro Mexicano de Derecho Ambiental (Mexican Environmental Law Center, CEMDA) in Mexico City says, “Canada is violating its own wildlife protection laws and Criminal Code -- which prohibit unnecessary cruelty to the seals -- and also fails to apply the precautionary principle by allowing a hunt that could irreparably damage seal populations.”

CEMDA works with environmental law organizations in more than 60 countries through the Environmental Law Alliance Worldwide (ELAW). ELAW partners around the globe work to protect natural resources and the human right to a healthy environment.

For more information, contact:

Claudia Gomez Portugal
Communications Director
Centro Mexicano de Derecho Ambiental
claudia@sakbe.com
(52555) 286-3323 (in Mexico City)
http://www.cemda.org.mx

Centro Mexicano de Derecho Ambiental is a public interest law firm based in Mexico City. CEMDA was founded in August 1993 by Mexican attorneys interested in the development, effective application, and improvement of environmental law as an effective means to protect Mexico`s environment and natural resources. CEMDA`s mission is "to strengthen the foundations of a culture favorable to the sustainability of life, through environmental education and development, application and enforcement of legal instruments that help preserve and protect the environment."

In the U.S. contact:

Maggie Keenan
Communications Director
Environmental Law Alliance Worldwide
maggie@elaw.org
tel. (541) 687-8454, ext. 23 (in Eugene, Oregon)
http://www.elaw.org