We explain what animal rights are, their origin and objectives. Also, what is the animal liberation movement.
What are animal rights?
By animal rights or animal rights we refer to the different currents of thought according to which animals should be protected by law of cruel treatment, and should not be considered objects of consumption. That is to say, non-human animals are subjects of law regardless of their species.
Throughout its history, humanity has reserved the legal status of subject of law for natural persons and legal entities only, although at times it has been denied to certain human groups, such as slaves, women, etc.
And just as each of these cases of discrimination has had its corresponding historical struggle, the animals have theirs, which is the Animal Liberation Movement with all its aspects.
The idea of animal rights is correct the tendency to consider animals affectively depending on their usefulness for humans, their degree of domestication (such as pets, for example, dogs and cats), or their beauty.
Those who are not socially valued for these and other reasons serve as food, transportation vehicle, cargo or experimental subject, without ever taking into account that they have the right to an existence free of pain, imprisonment or unethical treatment.
There are many national and international organizations that undertake this fight, which is why International Animal Rights Day is celebrated around the world, every December 10 since 1997.
Furthermore, animal rights are covered in the Universal Declaration of Animal Rights (1978), approved by the UN and UNESCO, among whose articles are the following:
- All animals are born equal in life and enjoy the same rights to exist.
- No animal will be subjected to mistreatment or cruel acts.
- If the death of an animal is necessary, it must be instantaneous, painless and not generating anguish.
- Every wild animal has the right to live in nature and reproduce naturally.
- Any deprivation of freedom of a wild animal, even if it is for educational purposes, constitutes a violation of animal rights.
History of animal rights
The first animal protection laws emerged in Ireland in 1635 but they were limited to the cruel treatment of pack animals, to prevent plows from being tied to the tails of horses, for example.
There were numerous Anglo-Saxon Puritan communities that were governed by similar principles. They even went so far as to list “rights” of domestic animals among their particular moral and legal codes.
Thinkers like Jeremy Bentham or Peter Singer, much more recently, led movements demanding animal rights, alleging that their capacity for suffering is similar to that of humans so they should be protected by the same sense of ethics.
There have even been more or less radical protest groups against animal abuse, which carried out actions such as the release of animals from zoos and boycotts of pharmaceutical or cosmetic companies that test their products on captive animals.
Why do animals have rights?
The need for animal rights is due to human empathy but also to respect for all life, and for philosophical and religious heritages of different natures. Philosophers such as the Englishman John Locke (1632-1704) opposed the tradition of thinkers such as the Frenchman René Descartes (1596-1650), for whom animals are only biological machines.
Instead, Locke argued that brutality towards animals is a terrible example for future generations who would then replicate it not only with animals, but with other people.
Similar reasoning thinks the mistreatment of animals as a reflection of human cruelties, and their respect for life, especially for that which cannot fight and resist it, such as a symptom of his morals . As Mahatma Ghandi famously said: “A civilization can be judged by the way it treats its animals.”
animal liberation movement
Also known as the Abolitionist Animal Liberation Movement or the Animalist Movement, it is an organization that is both formal and informal. Bring together global activists of all kinds including academics, artists and jurists, but also extreme vegetarians, philanthropists and neo-hippies.
Everyone comes together around a common objective: investigation, reporting, awareness and rescue of animals in situations of abuse whether domestic, pharmacological or industrial. Some even accuse the hegemonic culture of being anthropocentric and speciesist (from the term speciesism, derived from racism), that is, discriminatory towards non-human species.
References
- “Animal Rights” on Wikipedia.
- “Animal Rights” in VERY Interesting.
- “What are animal rights?” on Tele13 Radio (Chile).
- “Universal Declaration of Animal Rights” at Affinity Foundation.
- “Animal rights” in People for Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA).
