Book Launch: Animals in the International Law of Armed Conflict

On November 16, 2022, the International Law at Westminster research group will host an online book launch of Anne Peters, Jérôme de Hemptinne, and Robert Kolb's Animals in the International Law of Armed Conflict. Registration is here.

Peters, de Hemptinne, & Kolb: Animals in the International Law of Armed Conflict

Anne Peters (Max Planck Institute for Comparative Public Law and International Law), Jérôme de Hemptinne (Geneva Academy of International Humanitarian Law and Human Rights), & Robert Kolb (Université de Genève) have published Animals in the International Law of Armed Conflict (Cambridge Univ. Press 2022). The table of contents is here. Here's the abstract:

Animals are the unknown victims of armed conflicts. Wildlife populations usually decline during warfare, with disastrous repercussions on the food chain, on fragile ecosystems and precarious habitats. Belligerents take advantage of the chaos of war for poaching and trafficking of animal products. Livestock, companion, and zoo animals, highly dependent on human care, are direct victims of hostilities. The book is the first legal analysis of these issues. It maps the framework of international humanitarian law, examining which and how the concepts, principles, and rationales can be applied and adapted for a better protection of animals. The contributions inter alia discuss precautions for animal civilians, problems of animal combatants and prisoners, a specific status for veterinarian personnel, the recognition of biodiversity hotspots as specially protected zones, and the potential of enforcement mechanisms. The concluding chapter draws together novel interpretations and reform proposals.

Peters: Animals in International Law

Anne Peters (Max Planck Institute for Comparative Public Law and International Law) has published Animals in International Law (Brill | Nijhoff 2021). Here's the abstract:

The plight of animal individuals and species inflicted on them by human activity is a global problem with detrimental repercussions for all humans and for the entire planet. This book gives an overview of the most important international legal regimes that directly address and indirectly affect animals. It covers species conservation treaties, notably the international whaling regime, the farm animal protection rules of the EU, international trade law and the international law of armed conflict. It also analyses the potential for an international regime of animal rights. Finding that international law creates more harm than good for animals, the auther suggests progressive treaty interpretation, treaty making and animal interest representation to close the animal welfare gap in international law. A body of global animal law needs to be developed, accompanied by critical global animal studies.

Sykes: Animal Welfare and International Trade Law: The Impact of the WTO Seal Case

Katie Sykes (Thompson Rivers Univ. - Law) has published Animal Welfare and International Trade Law: The Impact of the WTO Seal Case (Edward Elgar Publishing 2021). Here's the abstract:

This thought-provoking book examines the rise of animal welfare as a serious policy concern in the international trade law regime. The central focus is an in-depth study of the background and legal analysis of the landmark EC – Seal Products case, which confirmed the importance of animal welfare in WTO law. The book explores how the WTO handled the relationship between trade disciplines and animal welfare, including the particularly challenging questions around Indigenous seal hunting rights. It offers a detailed account of animal welfare and animal conservation commitments in new trade agreements, as well as mechanisms for enforcement, cooperation, and citizen participation.

Peters: Studies in Global Animal Law

Anne Peters (Max Planck Institute for Comparative Public Law and International Law) has published Studies in Global Animal Law (Springer 2020). The table of contents is here. This is an open access book. Here's the abstract:

This open access book contains 13 contributions on global animal law, preceded by an introduction which explains key concepts and methods. Global Animal Law refers to the sum of legal rules and principles (both state-made and non-state-made) governing the interaction between humans and other animals, on a domestic, local, regional, and international level. Global animal law is the response to the mismatch between almost exclusively national animal-related legislation on the one hand, and the global dimension of the animal issue on the other hand.

The chapters lay some historical foundations in the ius naturae et gentium, examine various aspects of how national and international law traditionally deals with animals as commodity; and finally suggest new legal concepts and protective strategies. The book shows numerous entry points for animal issues in international law and at the same time shifts the focus and scope of inquiry.

Blattner: Protecting Animals Within and Across Borders: Extraterritorial Jurisdiction and the Challenges of Globalization

Charlotte E. Blattner (Harvard Univ. - Law) has published Protecting Animals Within and Across Borders: Extraterritorial Jurisdiction and the Challenges of Globalization (Oxford Univ. Press 2019). Here's the abstract:

Extraterritorial jurisdiction stands at the juncture of international law and animal law and promises to open a path to understanding and resolving the global problems that challenge the core of animal law. As corporations have relocated and the animal industry (agriculture, medical research, entertainment, etc.) has dispersed its production facilities across the territories of multiple states, regulatory gaps and fears of a race to the bottom have become a pressing issue of global policy. This book provides enough background to allow readers to understand why extraterritorial jurisdiction must respond to these developments, counters objections that readers might raise, and describes how to improve animal law in tandem. The heart of the work is a fully-fledged catalogue of options for extraterritorial jurisdiction, which states can employ to strengthen their animal laws. The book offers top-down perspectives drawn from general international law and trade law, and complements them by a bottom-up up view from the perspective of animal law. The approach connects the law of jurisdiction to substantive law and opens up deeper questions about moral directionality, state and corporate duties owed animals, and the comparative advantages of constitutional, criminal, and administrative animal law. To ensure that extraterritorial animal law does not become complicit in oppressing ethnic and cultural minorities, the book offers critical interdisciplinary perspectives, informed by posthumanist and postcolonialist discourse. Readers will further learn when and how extraterritorial jurisdiction violates international law, and the consequences of exercising it illegally under international law. This work answers questions about how and why extraterritorial jurisdiction can overcome the steepest hurdles for animal law and help move us toward a just global interspecies community.

Sparks: Protection of Animals through Human Rights. The Case-Law of the European Court of Human Rights

Tom Sparks (Max Planck Institute for Comparative Public Law and International Law) has posted Protection of Animals through Human Rights. The Case-Law of the European Court of Human Rights. Here's the abstract:

This paper discusses the potential of a human rights framework to contribute to the growth and development of global animal law. Parts one and two of the essay take as their example the jurisprudence of the European Court of Human Rights, and examine the major trends in the Court’s judgments and admissibility decisions that directly or indirectly concern the rights or welfare of animals. It is concluded that the Court is not indifferent to the welfare of animals, but that animal welfare is instrumentalised: it is understood not as a good in itself, but is instead valued for its implications for human welfare and rights. Part three of the essay then considers the obstacles that the anthropocentrism of the human rights idea and the instrumentalisation of animal concerns present to the use of human rights frameworks to further the development of global animal law, as well as the opportunities that exist in the meeting of these paradigms. It concludes that although the telos of human rights law is different from that of animal law, nevertheless there exist many overlapping concerns within which mutually beneficial interactions are possible.

Futhazar: Biodiversity, Species Protection, and Animal Welfare Under International Law

Guillaume Futhazar (Max Planck Institute for Comparative Public Law and International Law) has posted Biodiversity, Species Protection, and Animal Welfare Under International Law. Here's the abstract:

The purpose of this analysis is to explore the influence of the concept of animal welfare on international biodiversity law. A close examination of the recent evolution of this branch of international law shows that animal welfare has an ambivalent place in biodiversity-related agreements. Indeed, while welfare is only a faint consideration in the development of international regimes dealing with biodiversity as a whole, the concept has become an essential element for agreements dealing with the conservation of specific endangered species. Despite its role in these agreements, the place of animal welfare in international biodiversity law highlights that this corpus of rules is currently insufficient to be an effective tool for the protection of wildlife welfare. The last section of this study suggests that the adoption of international rules aiming at ensuring the protection of wild animals’ welfare could serve the double purpose of strengthening the conservation purpose of biodiversity regimes while also filling the welfare gap of international biodiversity law.

Roscini: Animals and the Law of Armed Conflict

Marco Roscini (Univ. of Westminster - Law) has posted Animals and the Law of Armed Conflict (Israel Yearbook on Human Rights, Vol. 47, pp. 35-67, 2017). Here's the abstract:

In spite of the wide use of animals for military purposes, the law of armed conflict has almost exclusively focused on the protection of human beings. The present article is the first ever in-depth study of how the law of armed conflict applies to animals and fills a serious gap in the literature. The problem has become of great significance in the light of the public opinion’s increasing sensibility towards animal welfare and the emergence of animal rights theories. The main purposes of this article, then, are to assess whether the existing rules of the law of armed conflict provide adequate protection to animals and to highlight the fault lines in the law. The article distinguishes the general provisions of the law of armed conflict, i.e. those that were not adopted with specific regard to animals but the application of which might restrict the killing and injuring of animals, from the provisions that specifically provide protection to animals. The analysis essentially focuses on the killing and injuring of animals in the conduct of hostilities, and only incidentally refers to the exploitation of natural resources, pillage, and seizure of property in occupied territories.

AJIL Unbound Symposium: Global Animal Law (Part I)

AJIL Unbound has posted a symposium on "Global Animal Law (Part I)." The symposium, the first of two parts, includes an introduction by Anne Peters and contributions by Annabel Brett, Anna Becker, Mathilde Cohen, Jérôme de Hemptinne, and Saskia Stucki.