Animal rights

Animal rights, or animal liberation, is the movement to protect non-human animals from being exploited by humans. It is a radical movement, insofar as it aims not merely to attain more humane treatment for animals, but to include many animals within the moral community — that is, all those whose basic interests (for example, in not being made to suffer unnecessarily) ought to be given the same consideration as our own similar interests. The claim, in other words, is that non-human animals must no longer be regarded legally or morally as property, or treated merely as resources for human purposes, but should instead be regarded as persons. To this end the movement advocates that many animals be given legal rights to protect their basic interests.

Related Topics:
Humans - Legally - Morally - Persons - Rights

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Some countries have taken the first step toward awarding personhood to non-human animals. Switzerland passed legislation in 1992 recognizing animals as beings, not things, and in 2002, rights for non-human animals were enshrined in the German constitution when its upper house of parliament voted to add the words "and animals" to the clause in the constitution obliging the state to respect and protect the dignity of human beings. http://archives.cnn.com/2002/WORLD/europe/06/21/germany.animals/index.html The Seattle-based Great Ape Project, founded by Australian philosopher Peter Singer, is campaigning for the United Nations to adopt its Declaration on Great Apes, which would see both species of chimpanzee, gorillas and orang-utans included in a "community of equals" with human beings, and which would extend to the non-human apes the protection of three basic interests: the right to life, the protection of individual liberty, and the prohibition of torture. http://www.greatapeproject.org/declaration.html

Related Topics:
Personhood - Switzerland - 1992 - 2002 - German - Great Ape Project - Peter Singer - United Nations - Declaration on Great Apes - Chimpanzee - Gorilla - Orang-utan - Liberty - Torture

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For information about individual activists and groups, as well as their aims and methodologies, see Animal liberation movement.

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