JOINT STATEMENT CONCERNING THE
WORLD HERITAGE COMMITTEE BUREAU DECISION ON KAKADU

    The Kakadu Review Mission of UNESCO which visited the Kakadu sites in October, recognized the seriousness of the situation and recommended the mining project be ceased. However, the Australian Government, stating the Mission's report was "prejudiced and one-sided" unashamedly launched massive lobbying and, as a result, on the 28^th of November the Bureau, while noting the criticality of the situation as stated in the Review Mission's recommendations, deferred for six months its decision concerning Kakadu's "World Heritage In Danger" listing, allowing the continuation of the mine to go on.

    We (the undersigned), exercizing our responsibilities as citizens to ensure that the Japanese government and corporations abide by international agreements, and condemning the Japanese corporations Kansai Electric Power Company, Kyushu Electric Power Company, Shikoku Electric Power Company, Itochu Trading and others which promote the mining in Kakadu, hereby state the following:

1. The UNESCO World Heritage Bureau, placing great importance on the Kakadu issue, deliberated for lengthy hours. This fact reflects the significance of Kakadu as an international issue. Kansai Electric Power Company's position that Kakadu is "merely a domestic issue within Australia" has now lost its credibility in entirety.
   
2. At the Bureau meeting the Japanese government delegation, claiming it was for the purpose of "careful examination", sought a deferral of the listing decision. As a result, this has allowed the continuation of the mining construction at Jabiluka. This overt act of inserting one's own nation's economic benefits into an international meeting on the protection of the environment is shameful.
   
3. We fully support the position of the Aboriginal people that they will not accept this political decision made on Kakadu at this meeting. Also, we strongly support the The World Conservation Union (IUCN) and International Council on Monuments and Sites (ICOMOS) recommendation that Kakadu should be immediately inscribed as "World Heritage In Danger", this being made in full awareness of the urgency of the current situation.
   
4. Up to this point Japanese corporations continue their global environmentally destructive and human rights abusing resource development. However, what has taken place at this time at the Bureau clearly shows that this type of attitude will no longer be acceptable in the international community. We must be fully aware that this situation is questioning the very foundations of the Japanese people's way of life.
   

    From the above, we strongly seek that the World Heritage Committee conference which is to begin on the 30^th of November will honor the Kakadu Review Mission report and accordingly place Kakadu on the "World Heritage In Danger" list immediately. We fully believe that with this, and only with this, will the ideals and principles of the World Heritage Convention be sustained.

1998 November 30^th

• Stop Jabiluka Campaign(Listing as of 9 am Nov. 30^th)

• 38 Japanese Organizations