Governing Societal Challenges in Transformational Times Elien Verniers
Page 1 of 1 ABSTRACT
COVID-19 as impetus for an integrative approach to global animal welfare law
An integrative approach is now more topical than ever, as COVID-19 remind us that animals and their welfare may no longer be addressed as a detached problem. Initiatives such as “One Health” and “One Welfare” already identified an inextricable link between human and animal health, casu quo human and animal welfare. It is time to translate this movements in a legally binding instrument in order to mitigate the current global animal welfare gap in law at the international level. While the United Nations (UN) covers human (e.g., Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR)) and environmental (e.g., United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC)) protection, animal welfare is still absent in the UN agenda. To address this lacuna, an United Nations Convention on Animal Health and Protection (UNCAHP) was recently proposed by the Global Animal Law (GAL) Association. UNCAHP aims to provide a global protection to all animals worldwide and even includes in its Preamble a reference to One Health and One Welfare. However, UNCAHP is not the first attempt to promote animal welfare at the international stage. The objective of this contribution is to critically evaluate this proposal and analyze whether or not it has potential to be adopted by the UN. In addition, the possible avenues for UNCAHP to enter the UN’s door are examined.
Possible consequences of such an adoption by the UN are also discussed. An enhanced cooperation, for instance, of the World Organization for Animal Health (OIE) and the World Health Organization WHO (WHO) could be key to prevent future pandemics. In a nutshell, it is concluded that COVID-19 could indeed play a vital role in finally adopting a global animal welfare treaty. The holistic scope of UNCAHP as well as the momentum of this devastating pandemic can be the decisive factor to get animal welfare launched into the UN’s (legal) framework. The Secretary-General already confirmed in the UN report from July 2020 on Harmony with Nature that ‘harmonious coexistence between humankind and the rest of the sentient beings that share the planet should be established’ and that ‘the process of recovery from COVID-19 provides us with a unique opportunity to build back better, together, so as to transform the world into one where humans truly live in harmony with Nature’.
