Advancing Legal Animal Rights in International Live Transport

Abstract

International trade of farm animals constitutes an essential part of the food- and animal production industry today in the European Union (EU) and globally. The industry is characterised by transboundary value chains, involving the transport of millions of live farm animals to other countries annually to be bred, fattened, and slaughtered. International transport of live animals represents a major animal welfare concern as the farm animals are frequently exposed to conditions causing suffering, pain and sometimes death. The international law protecting traded farm animals’ wellbeing is fragmented and unclear. Current animal protection laws are increasingly criticised for being unable to protect animals’ wellbeing efficiently. Consequently, an active scholarly debate prevails in the legal field of animal law around the need for new legal approaches to enhance the protection of animals in legal systems. Against this background, this present thesis aims to analyse the rules pertaining to international transport of live animals between the EU and third countries through a lens of animal law. In the legal field of animal law, a zoocentric perspective is applied as opposed to the traditional anthropocentric perspective on laws relating to animals to analyse how legal systems could protect animals most effectively from harmful treatment. The thesis intends to explore modern theories of legal animal rights and animal subjectivity as an alternative to current legal protection. Thus, by focusing on the concrete example of international live animal transport, two research questions are analysed from a zoocentric perspective; how is European farm animals’ welfare currently protected in international live transport and how could legal animal rights protect internationally traded and transported farm animals from harmful human impact? The thesis shows how EU- and international law justifies and maintains systems detrimental to farm animals’ wellbeing. While the available legal provisions protect some aspects of individual animals’ welfare, harmful treatment of farm animals remains permitted under current laws. In addition, the thesis shows that a main obstacle for improving farm animal protection in international transport is that farm animals, under the current legal paradigm, are considered as legal objects in law. A coherent legal recognition of animals as living, sentient beings with legal animal rights is missing. Thus, this thesis argues that a legal paradigm shift is needed to enable the most efficient protection of farm animals in international trade and transport. It would imply ascribing animals with legal rights, which is conceptually possible. The analysis further shows that if animals would hold fundamental rights, it would necessitate a systemic change in the trade and transport of live farm animals.