A new article about the legal status of nonhuman animals

A new article about the legal status of nonhuman animals

15 Feb 2017
Animals need justice

We have just published a new text that examines the status that nonhuman animals currently have in the legal system. The text explains that legal systems around the world are dependent on a distinction between persons (who are rights holders) and nonpersons (which have the status of mere things that can be used by persons). The latter is the status that nonhuman animals have.

Due to this, nonhuman animals are being discriminated against in the law. If we reject speciesism, they should be protected by negative and positive rights, as are humans today. Negative legal rights are those that protect us from being harmed by others (such as the right not to be killed). Positive legal rights are the ones that grant us that we will be aided or provided with the means we need to thrive (such as the right to health assistance).

In light of all this, granting significant legal protection to nonhuman animals can be done by completely changing the legal system or by granting nonhuman animals the status of legal rights holders.

The full text can be read here:

The legal status of nonhuman animals

We will be soon publishing more texts about the situation of nonhuman animals in politics and the law, about the different positions that animal activists can have regarding this and the ways to address the situation of nonhuman animals.