Greenpeace International
Ottho Heldringstraat 5, 1066 AZ, Amsterdam, Netherlands
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k.v.k. reg. 41200415 stichting greenpeace council
www.greenpeace.org
To whom it may concern
Greenpeace statement on Arctic Indigenous Community hunt
Greenpeace has not opposed and will not oppose the Inuit subsistence seal hunt and the generation of
local income from the products of such hunting, provided that the hunt does not harm, or threaten to
harm, the habitat and health of seal populations and the ecosystem as a whole. Greenpeace recognizes
the right of Arctic Indigenous Peoples to the sustainable use of natural resources.
Greenpeace urges the European Union to uphold the exception for seal skin products from Indigenous
community (IC) hunt. Greenpeace also hopes that the EU will help to ensure that the exemption of IC
products from Canada is implemented in practice, as intended in the beginning. When the European
Community imposed its import ban on seal products, Greenpeace did not oppose the exemption of seal
products originating from the Arctic Indigenous Community hunt.
Furthermore, the EU must increase the effort to inform the public and the relevant authorities in the
Member States of the differences between the sustainable hunts conducted by Indigenous Communities
and the commercial hunt.
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Jorgo Riss
Director, Greenpeace European Unit
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Patrik Eriksson
Executive Director, Greenpeace Nordic