What right(s) for animals

Organized under the scientific direction of Aloïse Quesne, this international and transdisciplinary colloquium is placed under the high patronage of Jean-Paul Costa, former President of the European Court of Human Rights, Honorary State Councillor and Honorary President of the René Cassin Foundation.

This event will take place remotely on Friday, December 10, 2021, on International Animal Rights Day.

December 10th is also the date of celebration of the International Day of Human Rights. It was not chosen at random, because animal rights directly affect human rights. Indeed, Man is also an animal; our anthropocentric conception of the world too often leads us to forget this. However, man differs only in degree but not in species from other animals. This symbolic date aims to draw a link between human rights and animal rights. The objective is also to initiate a public debate on the treatment of non-human animals.

Do animals have rights? What rights do they have under French law? What is their status? What about abroad?

There has been an increase in the importance of animal rights, both nationally and internationally, although the recognition of animal rights is sometimes hindered by the status of animals, thus slowing down the progress expected by the public. 

The granting of rights to animals transforms our ways of thinking, reasoning and implementing the law. Therefore, in a transdiciplinary and constructive approach, speakers and participants will be led to question the rights of animals, by associating ethics, philosophy, history, or literature. The aim will be to reflect on the main principles behind this notion, but also on the possibilities of increasing animal rights in practice.

Scientific direction:

Aloïse Quesne, Lecturer in private law at the University of Paris-Saclay – Evry Val d’Essonne, member of the Léon Duguit Research Center and associate researcher at the Demolombe Institute of the University of Caen-Normandy. Director of the Legal Clinic “One Health-Une seule santé” of the University of Paris-Saclay. Laureate 2021 of the Foundation for Social Sciences, under the aegis of the Fondation de France. Laureate of the Law Prize of the Foundation Droit Animal, éthique & sciences in 2014.

Contact : aloise.quesne@unicaen.fr

Dedicated sciencesconf website: https://droits-animaux.sciencesconf.org