The 2020 biennial Commission meeting of the IWC will be held at the Grand Bernardin Resort, Portoroz, Slovenia
The IWC first discussed this issue in 1998 when the Government of Brazil stated its intention to put forward a proposal for the establishment of a whale sanctuary in the South Atlantic. The proposal was first evaluated by the IWC in 2001 and was not adopted. It has since been discussed by the Commission on a number of occasions and the Governments of Argentina, South Africa, Uruguay and later, Gabon, have joined Brazil as co-sponsors of the proposal.
This document is a revised version of a previous proposal. It summarises the arguments that support the establishment of a sanctuary for whales in the South Atlantic and has been tabled for discussion at the 2016 Commission meeting in Slovenia.